Status of Working Women during COVID-19 in India and the Role of Social Workers

The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly impacted working women in India, especially those in the informal sector, which employs the majority of the female workforce (Deshpande, 2020). The convergence of job losses, school closures, and heightened unpaid domestic responsibilities created overlapping crises of economic insecurity and mental stress. Marginalized groups—Dalit, Adivasi, migrant, and single women—faced the sharpest edge of these challenges (SEWA Bharat, 2021). Frontline social workers, predominantly women, played a critical role by offering psychosocial support, bridging access to government schemes (e.g., PMGKY), and aiding survivors of domestic violence (TISS icall, 2020). Paradoxically, these workers themselves endured exploitation and undervaluation of their labour. This paper examines the dual burden borne by working women and social workers during the pandemic, advocating for gender-responsive systems and robust policy frameworks to address their vulnerabilities.