EXACERBATING CONDITIONS OF WOMEN DURING PANDEMIC

In the words of Mami Mizutori, “disaster amplifies the inequitable aspects of the world we live in”. Each day as it comes to a woman, she lives it, utilizes it and works in it to adequately serve her family; the only goal which she tries to accomplish, irrespective of her job or health. Playing every role flawlessly, fulfilling each responsibility smoothly and multitasking unsurpassably. The world is going through an unprecedented catastrophe which has paralyzed the current socio-economic, political and infrastructural needs difficult to be met. Unknowingly the pandemic has unleashed a number of subsequent ‘Gordian knots’ correspondingly diverting us to the worst.

The deeply entrenched patriarchy in various parts of the world has got a great opportunity to antagonise the society once again by coming into corporeality. The cases of domestic violence, sexual harassment, child marriage, confinements on girl education, inaccessibility of girls to online tools and forceful pressure to do domestic chores are some of the problems which have touched the pinnacle of its existence. The GEM (Global Education Monitoring) Report 2020 by UNESCO states the non-supportive nature towards education during COVID-19 pandemic in 40% economically backward countries. The websites like PEER, have mentioned the continued existence of exploitation in terms of providing education to women. The oppressive social structures have made the online education least effective for girls to get themselves educated. The females are proven to be the worst affected group during this lockdown. The lacuna between the treatment for providing opportunities for educational exploration to only boys and depriving girls from it begins at a very early stage. This is reflected by the 14th ASER (Annual Status of Educational Report) conducted across 26 districts of 24 states has shown a drastic discrepancy in the rate at which the parents prefer to send boys to private school than girls. 56.8% of girls and only 50.4% of boys are sent to government school in contrast to the 43.2% of girls and 49.6% of boys are sent to private schools. The girls are preferably sent to government school while boys to private sector. However during lockdown the propensity to continue the pace of providing education to girls have been disrupted and another set issues are consequently rising like child marriages, pressure to do household chores or many a times inaccessibility to online tools. The report of UN mentions the vulnerability of child marriages to increase during the lockdowns by 4 million and total of about 13 million by the end of next decade. The RTE which mandates the persuasion of education for the age group of 6-14 has been proved to be unviable. 

The economy has experienced a swift slump which has brought turmoil to the lives of the people. According to the data of ILO (International Labour Organization) about 200 million jobs were lost in the initial months of the pandemic. The surge in poverty and economic inequality has resulted in a huge amount of school drop out of about 42%, conducted across few Asian countries by ‘Room to read’ which states that one out of every three girls is at the risk of drop out. These girls, mostly teen girls are forced to indulge themselves in domestic chores and the girls continuing their education are not able to dedicate the time essential for it. A paper under the name of “Whatever she may study, she can’t escape from washing dishes: Gender inequity in secondary education – evidence from a longitudinal study in India'' published under the ‘Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education’ states the amount of time spent by boys and girls respectively for doing domestic chores has about 17.7% gender gap. In the case of contemporary online classes it is evident in the accessibility of online tools and preferential treatment for the same. It is very saddening to know the results of the survey conducted by the Internet and Mobile Association of India that only 30% of Indian users are female. The most heinous fact about the Indian society of not allowing women to have access to mobile phones as it might lead to weakening of control of men over them. It is still prevalent in many parts of India like Phulwari village of Bihar. The lockdown has taken away jobs of many female workers too which has made it difficult for them to survive under their dominating partners who are exploiting them. Even if we are seeing a rise in the number of women as frontline workers, the remuneration given is not equal to that of men. Following this the rate of child marriage has simultaneously soared with an additional increase of about 4 million as warned by UN. Such scenario was earlier visible during the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone and 2008 financial crisis and ended in similar fate. 

Another important matter of urgent attention is escalation of cases of domestic violence. The reports of UNWOMEN states an upsurge of 243 million worldwide in any sort of violence done to women of age group 15 to 49 in a period of 12 months. In countries like France, the government has made arrangements in hotels for women victims of domestic violence .Apart from this, the women are forced to the facilitation of financial situations of the house even though simultaneously expected to organize household chores. British economists like James Meade and Richard Stone have stated the total value of unaccounted household chores which is equal to more than half of world GDP.  The women, however, have other threats too like the sudden uprising in human trafficking. This has been, since time immemorial, the worst form of exploitation a woman could go through. The human trafficking has increased due to the economic challenges chiefly. The landowners in rural areas are traced to be the huge regulators of such unethical actions. During these COVID times, online harassment against other forms of exploitation has spiked up by more than five times as per NCW (National Commission for Women) mentions. Many women are also facing reproductive threats as they are being abstained from obtaining the health facilities available. Their mental health is also a concern of great attention. 

It is our impeccable fortune that we are able to read articles or probably write and continue our studies even during the worst; not forgetting the exposure of opportunity that we possess. It should be our prime duty to respect such a luxury and share our resources pro-bono and break the confrontations of factors leading to the rise of such crimes. It is highly appreciable if our opportunities can be utilized for the betterment of the whole society.

The article has been published by Pranjal Sharma, the best content writer of this website. Her articles are loved by people all around the world.

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