Impact of COVID-19 National Lockdown on The Lives of Women Construction Workers in Delhi

The Construction sector share of 9% in the GDP of India. It employs roughly 5.5 crore daily wage labourers. The sector also houses the highest number of workers who have migrated. However, only 3.5 crore workers are registered with Construction Welfare Boards. The data on the construction sector suggests that the sector is a male dominated sector as around 89% of the workers are male and only 11% are female. Within the sector, there exists hierarchy amongst workers with skilled labour being on the top and unskilled being at the bottom. Women mostly are at the bottom in the hierarchy. A study on migrant women construction workers in Delhi shows that out of 501 women construction workers interviewed, 99% of them were engaged in non mechanized work. The sector is also marked with a widespread contract labour system. The employment in the sector is precarious with low or irregular payments. Moreover, the wage gap in this sector is highly gendered. The female workforce in the informal economy and even more so in the construction sector is more prone to occupational hazards coupled with undernourishment.