Experiences and Struggles During COVID-19 Pandemic in India: A Qualitative Study of 12 Women

Abstract

The crisis befalling women during COVID-19 in India is of seismic proportions affecting 620 million women from diverse sociocultural, religious and caste backgrounds and who are bound by deep-rooted patriarchy. The pandemic’s devastating effects are unfolding in menacing ways and affecting almost every domain of women’s’ lives to an almost irreparable extent—mental and physical health, income and livelihood, education and career, kinship and childcare, roles and status in society. The present study uses the qualitative method phenomenology, interviewing 12 Indian women on their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has affected their lives at home and work. The accounts of these women are then explained and discussed through the lens of feminist movements and related literature of India, juxtaposing their voices with experiences surrounding women of this country during the pandemic. The findings have been subjected to phenomenological analysis which brought out issues related to women’s backbreaking domestic work, mental and physical abuse, effects of patriarchy on their lives, social isolation and poverty.