Labour, COVID-19 and Gender: Lived Experiences of Female Domestic Workers

The COVID-19 pandemic is undeniably the most significant public health crisis in recent history, profoundly impacting nearly all population groups, including the most vulnerable, such as female domestic workers (FDWs). Inadequate housing, low-paid work, casual contracts, stigmatisation, humiliation and the dynamics of intersectionality result in social and economic insecurity, further decreasing their bargaining power for better working conditions. The present article seeks to understand the lived experiences of FDWs in India’s capital, Delhi, during the pandemic using critical ethnography and phenomenology as frameworks. Interviews were conducted with participants residing in different parts of the Delhi-NCR region. The data were analysed using Haase’s adaptation of Colaizzi’s analysis method (Haase, 1987). Findings showed the participants’ experience of the pandemic, focusing on issues of finances, uncertainty, identity and the sources of support they received.