From door to door sellers to journalists, how are working women coping with the lockdowns?

Sangita Asalkar is a small jewellery vendor from Darwha, a small taluka from the COVID red zone district of Yavatmal in Vidarbha. She is the sole breadwinner for her family of four. Before the lockdown which was followed by the spread of COVID-19, she would go door to door selling artificial jewellery in the town. Her business earned her 50-100 rupees per day, while during festive season her profit would go up to 300 per day. While describing her struggle, Sangita said, "Because of this lockdown, I cannot go out to sell jewellery and it was my only source of income. I have been managing my house alone since 2012 after the death of my husband and never asked or begged anyone for help."

Sangita with helplessness in her voice explained, that due to the current situation she is left with no choice but to take help from people so that she can feed her three sons. Sangita is one of those women who have lost their livelihood due to the current disruption followed by COVID-19. When asked whether she has money for treatment in case she or her children get infected with the disease, she answered, "Aata je pan hai te sarkar var depend hai mayajaval ta kai paisa urlach nai (Now I have no money and I am dependent on government's assistance if I or my kids get the disease)."

The sole breadwinner who proudly described how she managed her house on her own is now helpless and when asked what has she decided about her door to door jewellery selling business, she replied, "I don't know when will I be able to go out for sell as the disease is spreading very fast. Even if I go out to sell the jewellery, I don't think women will buy anything from me".

Shivkanya Bade is a dancer in a Tamasha Group named Haribhau Bade Tamasha Mandal from Ahmednagar. The proud dancer who started performing from the age of 5, informed that hers is the fifth generation in the folk dance business of Tamasha. This 37-year-old Tamasha artist, while explaining current loss of livelihood said, "Tumale khara sangto tai kaich paisa urala nhi gharat sagla udhari-padhariwar suruea sadhya (We have left with no money and currently handling our expenses on borrowed money)." She said that this is the season when Tamasha Groups earn the most and then sustain throughout the year by doing small shows.

Currently, due to the COVID-19 lockdown, Shivkanya stated that the group could only do one show in Pargaon in Ahmednagar and paid some amount to their members through that earning. Her group has almost 22 women artists who literally earn hand to mouth and all of them have left with no money in their hand currently. The dancer is a lead member of the group and worried about other members. She said that many artists like her are in dire need of assistance from the government.

Priyanka Aswani owns a clothing fashion brand named PC Label in Pune. The fashion start-up owner informed that currently, they have stopped all the work as all her tailors went to their villages and her business is in trouble. 'I was planning to launch 4th collection and was really hoping for good business in this wedding season but, now I have lost almost all of my business of the season." Priyanka who is almost out of her savings said that she has three tailors and pays them money when they call her for help. Although, her business is in bad shape currently the designer is focusing on design and online videos for promotions and branding.

For many businesses, the government has eased the lockdown norms, but salons are asked to remain shut due to fear of the spread of infection. Manisha owns a salon which she started with her friend in 2005. The beautician said that she is currently living on the salary of her husband. She has employed almost 10-12 girls at her salon. She informed that the business was already in trouble in March and they could earn only 25% of the normal earnings every month. While talking about her employees, she sadly mentioned that she could not pay them the salary of this month as she's left with no money. "We have decided that once everything gets normal we will borrow some loan from the bank and pay salaries of our employees, pay the rent and distributors." However, with the current uncertainty, she is clueless about how she will start her business again.

This season is important for the people working in services related to weddings and Mehendi is an essential part of that business. Sheetal Raut is a henna artist from Pune. Adding to the list of stories of women's struggle, she said, "I would get 7-8 contracts per week in a peak season like this, but now there are hardly any." Mehendi is her passion and she's the product manager at Accenture. Thus, for Sheetal, survival is not an issue as she gets her salary regularly. However, she said that her heart goes out to many other women who have completely lost their livelihood as they are solely dependent on this Mehendi business.

“Our family members were asking us to shut the dairy due to the risk of getting an infection, but I and my husband thought about our customers, many of them have newborn babies, and thus we decided to not shut our dairy,” said Vandana Pawar who runs a dairy named Shrijee Dairy in Wakad. Vandana has 2 kids and has sent both of them to her parents in Panvel before the start of the lockdown. It has been more than a month that she has not met her kids. Vandana said that she misses them badly every day but can't meet them due to a ban on inter-district travel. Vandana and her husband have a dairy farm in Talegaon; while her husband looks after the delivery of the milk, she manages the dairy at Wakad Police Line.

Essential workers like doctors and police have been applauded for their work in their difficult times. However, the struggle of the families of these workers is also important. Snehal Choudhary is a social worker who founded an NGO named Kshitij Foundation to create awareness for menstrual hygiene. Her husband is Deputy Superintendent of Police in Akola. “I have to take extra care as my husband is going out for the duty. So, when he comes from the office, I have to make sure that he sanitizes everything he takes out with him.” Snehal informed that many policemen who come to her house daily get home-cooked food at her residence. Kshitij Foundation members were planning for the big awareness camp for the upcoming menstrual hygiene day, but they cancelled the event due to lockdown. Currently, Snehal is managing the distribution of sanitary napkins in Akola. While talking about it, she said that her NGO has managed to get some donations of sanitary napkins from various medicals in the city. The sanitary napkins collected from various medicals are then distributed to many women from the marginalized sections of the society in Akola with the help of Police.

Sayli Shelke is a doctor who works at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre Hospital in Mumbai. Sayli is one of the doctors who are fighting on the frontline with COVID-19. While explaining her challenges she said, “My life has turned upside down due to this pandemic. I don’t know when will I go home, meet my parents, and sit calmly.” The 28-year-old doctor has to do fixed hours of duty in the COVID-19 dedicated ward in a week. However, she said that nowadays it is risky to deal with normal patients also and thus they have to take every possible precaution to protect the patients and themselves also.

Shalaka Shinde is a journalist who covers crime beat for Hindustan Times in Pune. Shalaka goes out for reporting every day in Pune and because of that her family is worried about her safety all the time but that hasn't stopped her from doing her job. "The biggest issue for us female reporters is finding a toilet and this issue has become more severe nowadays and it becomes really difficult to find a toilet outside", said Shalaka while talking about the issue which she has to face on the field. 

Maharashtra Government is currently asking government teachers to conduct online classes of students. Neeta Khade is a Zilha Parishad School teacher in Kamargaon village of Washim district. While talking about her struggles, Neeta said that out of her 51 students only 29 has access to the internet and smartphones. Managing classes virtually is a task and thus she keeps on finding creative ways to reduce the dependency on smartphones for her students. She knows that many of the parents even don't have money to recharge their phones now and thus she assigns her students the tasks which do not involve usage of the internet. These tasks include learning cooking, discussing various issues with parents and grandparents, writing a diary, and writing essays on the experience of this situation.

Boosting the morale of her students is of utmost importance for Neeta, especially in such a situation when her students are locked inside their houses and thus she regularly interacts with them and their parents over the calls. In these calls, she informed us that many times she talks and chats with her students even on topics that are not related to their studies. Fondly talking about her students, Neeta described, "As the first lockdown was getting over many of my students called to ask whether they shall come to school the next day. Students keep calling me to tell how much they miss school these days". “Even I miss school nowadays and I too hope that it opens soon,” added Neeta.