2 years, 1 month ago-
With economic activity at a halt during the pandemic, women working in the informal sector have seen a dramatic decline in their capacity to earn a living.
Adding on to the loss in income and paid work, many women are also juggling an increase in unpaid care and domestic work.
The ongoing Corona virus pandemic has surely Widened the poverty gap even more for women where about 47 million girls and women are suffering from unemployment or problem like less salary as compared to men. I can put a strong statement saying, ‘ A virus doesn’t show inequality and discrimination, the society does!’
According to the recent reports of the UN, if this continues then in near future, more than men, a woman would be made poor by this economic fallout and due to the enormous job loss suffered by the women today. It shows how we have constructed and defined our society and economy, when we such an increase in the poverty line and pay gap of women as compared to men. Way before the corner virus hit, women were already supporting their families with their limited wages and salary before people lost their jobs. And working mothers were already shouldering the majority of family caregiving responsibilities in the face of a childcare system that is wholly inadequate for a society in which most parents work outside the home
Women have lost their jobs at a faster rate during the pandemic than men, since the type of occupation and jobs women did were hit more such as retails, restaurants and hotels. The recent reports stated that the work rate of women was and has always been more in the informal or domestic works which often have limited health care and knowledge and benefits of other protection relates to health. We know for obvious reasons that women usually are more into having the responsibility of taking care of the family and that is why they earn less as well as save less due to insecure jobs too.
Its high time now that the government should take the respective measures and adopt plans in order to life women poverty by helping women in low paid jobs and informal jobs. An estimate of around 100 girls and women can surely be lifted from poverty if the government takes and implements appropriate plans according to the condition with help of experts for providing fair and equal wages to women.The moment anyone talks about the ever-growing and evident wage gap between men and women, there is always someone who claims that the gender gap is a myth and that women and men are equal socially, economically, and politically these days. In addition to that, they make sure to attach a random fabricated poll to prove their misogynistic point.
Yet, it is an unchangeable fact that women are paid less than men in whichever field they go to unless they’re ring girls or porn stars, whose payments are fixed according to demand and since women are mostly appreciated for only being objects for the male gaze. But in the common job net, like in retail workers, sales managers, technicians, designers, drivers, financial managers, real estate brokers, medical technicians and many more.
Moreover, in typical superior–subordinate scenarios, where the superior is a man, it is often seen that they withhold deserving promotions for women employees until they are offered sexual favours. There are too many instances of this kind, the most recent famous one being the Karnataka CM with his scandalous ‘Sex for Favours’ tape.
Another unfair treatment of women in the job industry is not being given jobs unless they’re young and unmarried, this is owing to the fear of having to grant paid maternity leaves, more insurance from the company, and other incentives. Furthermore, they assume that married women will be ‘busy’ handling the kids and will have no time to complete tasks assigned to them, that they will not be able to concentrate on work due to their ‘maternal instincts’ or the stereotype that they’ll spend hours gossiping while they’re supposed to be working.These assumptions on the part of the employer provide a very difficult situation for mothers or wives who wish to work and have some financial independence. This is also a reason for the high female turnover rate.
It is also observed that occupations that do employ women, pay them less because more often they assume ‘female-typical’ working-time arrangement for them and that they work less because they are ‘less strong’; both of which contribute to the gender wage gap among the highly qualified.
People often overestimate men’s capabilities and underestimate women’s abilities. Society accepts that women are generally multitaskers when it comes to following gender norms like cooking, cleaning, looking after a young child, and running the house. But when it comes to running a company or, at the least, working in a company, a woman is suddenly deemed not capable of doing the bare minimum.
Whereas a forward-thinking person who lives in the 21st century should believe that women are great multitaskers and owing to that, they have better concentration and great new ideas.
Plus, hiring more women and paying them more would result in lesser on-the-job sexual harassment cases because sexual harassment is mostly a men’s issue. 🙂
The pandemic, however, has turned the tables on the increasing women’s employment. Especially in India, according to the WEF, the gender gap has increased dramatically, and India is currently in the 140th position among 156 nations participating in the rankings.
Women are forced to sit at home all day tending to the families like wives are supposed to do in society, and this has also brought a hike in domestic abuse cases, because men deem it his duty to go and work, because it is a hurt to his pride if he is living off of his wife’s earnings. This brings women down to mere housewives, strips them of their financial and social independence, and chains them down like they used to be centuries ago.
It should be noticed at least now that every single argument regarding a women’s issue comes down to men’s efforts in trying to protect the oppressive patriarchal system that puts them on a pedestal and women’s efforts in smashing it down.
One of the most obvious issues we see is the wage disparity between men and women. Women are commonly known to earn less than men, even when doing the same job for the same number of hours.
Women’s occupations differ from men’s, resulting in disparities in earnings. A man is said to work in the manufacturing industry, which pays more than an educational service, which mostly employs women.
Everyone has been affected by the pandemic, regardless of gender or race. Men and women were both affected by job loss, low income, and other factors. Women may have been hit far more severely than men. When it comes to firing employees, a woman has a higher chance than a man because she is a woman.
Workers suffered the most during the pandemic in industries where informal employment is common. They were already working in deplorable conditions, and the pandemic has worsened their predicament. Many domestic workers, mostly women, were laid off. Many would be unable to support their families during these difficult times because they lacked basic worker protections such as paid leave.
Prior to the pandemic, women spent hours performing unpaid work in addition to paid work if they had one (part-time or full-time). With the loss of jobs, the hours spent on unpaid work have increased, and women have found themselves trapped in a cycle of never-ending domestic chores.
Economic insecurity has a lifetime effect on the lives of women and girls, as it correlates to gender equality. The pandemic has widened the gap between men and women, but the gap was there before the pandemic and will remain after it.
By the beginning of this year , through the centennial of the 19th Amendment’s ratification , there were 58% of women work force in India ,and it is nearly a three-fold increase since 1920 . But since when this pandemic started it is a very hard situation for all of us but strike the woman very hard . COVID-19 pandemic has increased the rate of unemployment U.S economy . But more than a man a woman is affected by it .Many of them women lose her job due to this pandemic .They are so many women’s , whose income was running their house but now they all are unemployed .Unemployment rate of women is higher than men. IN the time of this pandemic , women loss their jobs very fast.
People in India have a belief that women cannot work more well than men, that is why they do not pay as much money to women as Men , and in many places people give more preference to male workers and leave female , thinking that male will be more superior to this work .In fact, this happens in the corporate sector that, where a woman employee is appointed and if the company gets a male worker for that place, then they remove the woman from the job without any valid reason. according to the 2018 survey , women of all races earned, on average, just 82 cents for every $1 earned by men of all races.
Any reason for this income gap the first and foremost reason is experience , as all women are not allowed to work due to this reason in many sector women’s are not allowed. The second reason:- Many women are not comfortable working after 5 pm . As They are around for the 10- 5 job only In corporate sector many times worker have to do overtime or maybe they get late to home .
Women should also get the equal opportunity as a man get she can also do all the work as a man do and should be paid fair wages.Yes it is true that gender pay gaps exist .Sadly there are still asian countries like India and China where women are paid less even though they dedicate equal time or even more time to work.Not only in corporate world but even in entertainment industry its common topic that actresses are paid less than an actor because it is believed that they only are their because of their beauty overlooking their hard work.
We have all witnessed how remarkable women are performing in every field and this hurts their ego and thus there have been cases where productivity of women is ignored or presented less and thus suppressing and harassing them in the workplace to the point of forcing them to leave. Women are also not appointed to senior positions easily.
Many a times it is assumed foolishly that women can’t be efficient at working especially the jobs that include more lifting or physical energy. Today where women are climbing to heights and even reaching space there is still a world where women are not considered to be professional.
Next reason for the gender pay gap is low qualifications. As we know educating a girl has always been a pain in the gut of Indian families and now many families just for sake of getting a graduation don’t find it reasonable to spend on education of girls and thus girls opt for fields which have less scope.
Next important reason is women are expected to manage both the house and children and thus most women opt for part time jobs or look for a job with flexible work timings which are mostly jobs where pay is less. This problem could sort out if men share responsibility at home too.
The next thing is that government should take responsibility to avoid such scenarios as country like USA and many more have laws that clearly states for equal pay for men and women.Yes, women are given less pay than men .women are also working their best and giving the same efforts as much as men still the more pay is given to men decision making authority is given to men.no matter how much women can do it will be always considered less in front of blindfolded society. The government has also established the law for equal remuneration, also women have to struggle to get the promotion. Whereas men get easily promoted. This unfair treatment demotivates the women. When companies decide to cut off the employees women are the first soft target to remove because people think women are the extra earning source for the family. In a pandemic, there are so many women who have lost their job. Women have to manage both home and office both so women do a part-time job, there is also a penalty for motherhood, women when taking leave after some time when she rejoins, had worked at lower pay. Negotiation is also the reason women less like to negotiate for higher pay. In every field we can see discrimination Indian male cricket players are paid more than female players, also in the entertainment industry male actors are paid more than a female actress, leadership men’s are more likely to given the opportunity to become the managers they are good in strategizing as some bosses think so they result in a pay cut of the female managers. The company should give the fair chance to both. HR should be transparent about their policies, they ensure that everybody is getting the pay that they deserve free from biases.
Women make a greater percentage of workers in the Informal sector and other precarious forms of employment. In the industrialized countries, between 65 and 90% of all are part-time women workers. A large number of women in developing countries working in the informal sector do not provide full-time benefits as so it leads to job insecurity and less pay too.
In the present scenario, considering each factor like a pandemic, it has resulted in many losing their jobs and have hardly any income. Many are cases behind women doing part-time jobs like they don’t get full-time work, people think they can’t do that work because they also have to look after house chores also, and so women have to sacrifice. “Part-time or full time, Women still tend to be last to be hired for any post and first to be fired”
Universally the work of women is not as highly valued as men, reasons behind these are women are treated inferior or less than a man in all types of work, their work is considered not that efficient, and they give less output rather than men, theses are common workplace discrimination. Women’s employment is primarily concentrated in a narrow range of sectors (especially services, where access to jobs is easier but wages are often lower and job security minimal). Even within those sectors, women find themselves clustered at the lower echelons.
Women now are no less than in any fields, instead, they can do that same work that men can do in fewer resources and more efficiently. In developed countries, women don’t face these issues of less pay or less security of a job, but still some countries have. Men’s are given job security and fixed pay in many sectors but in the same sector, women are not given, maybe still they think women are not the bread earner of the family and only men are bread earner of the family. The thoughts and actions of people need to be changed.It is true that our society still not consider women more or equally potential to the male society. She is discriminated against based on her physical, mental, emotional, social fitness. They are paid less in jobs and even this pandemic has made it more worse as it hit more women in society, more women are now unemployed than men and if they are having jobs she is not getting equal pay.
They don’t have the security of pay in their jobs, no maternal leave and payment during pre and post-pregnancy. Women who are single parent and bread earner have to take care of their family facing more challenges. In this pandemic, more than 25 per cent who are self-employed have lost their jobs.
To support women finically their labour code bill have been introduced in which it has the provision of equal pay to both genders in government as well as private sectors. Government can provide different incentives to uplift the women society such as, direct income support for women, child benefit transfer for vulnerable women, supporting women who are owning their own business, quality child care services to working women, support women who are engaged in the informal sector, providing free ration in the name of women head of the family. There are different provision even in constitution of India which protect women from discrimination during her working hours.
There are many stricks and movement related to labour in which their demand is equal pay for equal work. This discrimination is a social evil that has been started since the industrial revolution but still this not abolished. Women are forced to do more work than male member and still paid less.
India rank 112th out of 153 countries in the gender pay index which is published annually by the world economic forum.In this pandemic situation, women don’t get job opportunities than men. Due to which many women hold less secure jobs than men. It is all because of inequality towards women. Society generally see that if women wants to do job than they has do household chores and taking care of family with their job but when men are go for job they don’t have any kind of responsibility towards family or having restrictions. Due to which women are responsible for the household work and has to manage professional and personal life. Men need to understand that women are not only one to handle all the household chores and taking care of family both men and women should have equal responsibilities towards their family, so that women don’t get burden to manage office work and household chores. If men and women will work together in household chores than women will completely give her focus at her office work. Because, at workplace women aren’t treat equally and manager don’t take any reason from her to completing office work. They don’t even pay equally at workplace because of gender stereotypes and comparing with men at workplace due to which women lose her self-confidence and it gets affected to work. Because their are men who still think that they are always better than women at workplace and women are meant to be housewives and taking care of Child. In this COVID-19 pandemic situation men and women both has work from home due to which men are given priority to work and women are asked to do household chores and look after child. Why? Both should take equal responsibility to do household chores that will be esay for both of them and women can also do her office work at time. In our society men are given priority and women aren’t get support towards her office work with equal opportunity that’s why men hold more secure job than women. And also women aren’t treating equally at workplace than men due to which women are less paid than men.
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