Who moved her job prospects?

Archana Sarode, a private school teacher in Gurgaon, lost her job in the pandemic aftermath. With classes going online, her private school did not have the need for a pre-school teacher. Sarode, a mother of two, had been working for the last three years. Likewise, independent insurance consultant Mitul Tiwari, based out of Delhi, had to quit her job as the post-pandemic period proved a roadblock in getting people interested in extra savings.

Sarode and Tiwari are among thousands of women who had to quit their job or were laid off during the pandemic and its aftermath. According to recent data compiled by the World Bank, it has been seen that between 2010 and 2020, the number of working women in India dropped from 26 percent to 19 percent. In fact, female employment plummeted to only nine percent in 2022. The reasons are manifold.

The foremost reason, of course, is the fact that in India women are considered the primary caregivers of the family. For example, in Sarode’s case, her husband is a data analyst with a startup, while her ailing father-in-law lives with them, plus there was the care needed for two school-going children—the younger one in Class II. As lockdown after lockdown was imposed, and with her husband also working from home, it was decided by the family to shore up their expenses by cutting down on household help. The moment that happened, the household chores largely fell on Sarode, with her husband chipping in from time to time. But with his job demanding most of his time, there was only so much he could do. Then there was the need to care for her ailing father-in-law and with no outdoor play time and online classes, look after the needs of her children. With the school shut, Sarode doubled up as the caregiver for her family of five.

While this was supposed to be a stop-gap arrangement till the pandemic chaos was over, it was not to be. With the economy taking a hit, it affected yearly performance appraisals and a raise in the paycheck for Sarode’s husband. Like many of his peers, he was happy that he at least had a job in these difficult times. Losing out on raise appeared a small price to pay. After losing her job, Sarode also had little else to fall back on. With a raging pandemic and a new normal in place, it proved challenging to look for a job. She recently joined the informal sector and gives tuition at home to a handful of children.

Tiwari, a single woman, had different difficulties. With her consultancy services being hit, she had little option but to move back to her hometown of Varanasi. It’s been one year since, but Tiwari is yet to find an alternative. Needless to say, her parents are now trying to get the 26-year-old married, as according to them and their peers, she is fast approaching an age where it will be difficult to find suitors. After the first lockdown, in 2020, the country’s leading matrimony websites reported a spike in new registrations, and according to government data, the marriage of young adults and even teens has seen a rising trend.

The reasons for the spike in marriages are many-pronged. First and foremost is the fact that there are fewer job options open for women now. In a post-pandemic scenario, when the economy is far from recovered, organisations are going slow on recruitment. The age-old bias against women that they are more needed at home has pushed organisations back from hiring women as far as possible. Little wonder that though women in India represent 48 percent of the population, they contribute only around 17 percent of GDP.

Also, with less demand and more supply as far as jobs and job-seekers are concerned, the office has become a toxic place. Women who can afford to are feeling it is better to stay home rather than be subject to a vitiating office atmosphere. And for those who are in dire need of a job, the fact remains that employers believe that a man would be better suited to face the mental and physical pressures that a job today demands.

Parents with daughters who have finished their further studies but have not entered the job market are conditioned by society to believe that it is their primary duty to get their daughters ‘settled’, pandemic or no pandemic. Also, the fact that the pandemic years saw small functions instead of the big fat Indian wedding that can set a family back by a few lakhs or more, made many opt for arranged marriages. Hence, a spike in new registrations on matrimonial sites.

At the end of the day, the fact that we still view women as the primary caregivers of the family has made the divide between men and women employment seekers starker in recent years. It is believed that it is the woman’s role to look after children and the family in general. If that affects her ability to seek employment, then that’s bad, but that’s how it is. After all, a man is still supposed to be the provider and a woman, the caregiver—simple math, pandemic or not. The skewed ratio of women employees vis-a-vis men looks like it is here to stay for a long time, and some more.