Socio-economic impact of COVID-19 on women migrant workers

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on domestic migrant workers in India. To address the gendered impact of the pandemic on migrant workers, this brief presents the key findings from a survey of 10,161 women migrant workers from 12 states in India. The analysis reveals that women migrant workers were faced with the double burden of earning a livelihood and unpaid care work at home. In addition, their incomes fell by more than half during the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic levels. Against this backdrop, this brief presents the importance of social protection measures for Indian women migrant workers along the following dimensions: food security, cash assistance, government health insurance and protection against domestic violence.