Covid 19 as a tail of job hardship and marginalisation

Relevance: Understanding problems by Indian women working in West Asia during Covid times.

News

Covid-19 pandemic has increased the vulnerabilities of women migrant workers residing in the West Asia region.

According to International Labour Organization (ILO), Gulf Cooperation Council(GCC) hosts about 23 million migrant workers. Among these, Women account for 39% of migrant workers, and this count is continually growing.

How working women in West Asia can be divided?

In West Asia, Working Women can be divided into two categories:

Skilled: include persons in the organized sector, mainly health care workers in West Asia.

Semi/Unskilled: They are domestic workers, care workers, cleaning crew, manufacturing workers, salon staff and salespersons.

What are the job hardship and marginalisation faced by women in the West Asia region?

Skilled women employees: 1. Increased working hours without any remuneration, 2. Not provided enough safety equipment like masks, PPE kits to health care employees, 3. Increased mental stress levels of nurses and hospital staff.

Semi/unskilled women employees: 1. Business enterprises were bankrupt forced women to leave the country or work for lower wages, 2. Not able to finance their health costs as their health insurance does not cover all the costs, 3. illegal employees face more exploitation and abuse.

How to address job hardship and marginalisation of women employees in West Asia?

1. Address the lacunae in the system to identify the root cause, 2. Implement Right-based policies to safeguard the interest of migrants.

Source: This post is based on the article “Covid 19 as a tail of job hardship and marginalisation” published in The Hindu on 3rd November 2021.