Analysing Post-Pandemic Female Labour Force Participation and Intra-Household Dynamics Through the Lens of Social Reproduction: The Indian Case

The coronavirus pandemic has adversely impacted women in both the productive and the reproductive realms of the Indian economy. While more women are observed to have lost their jobs, household and care work burden increased for all classes of women at least in the initial lockdown period. In this article, we put forth possible scenarios that can arise in the post-pandemic Indian economy regarding female labour force participation and intra-household dynamics, using social reproduction theory as our analytical framework. We posit that the pandemic will distress-drive women to participate in the labour force. Also, female formal workers who lost or quit their jobs during the crisis period may completely withdraw from the labour force if their spouses retain their jobs. Further, financial constraints can increase the incidences of spousal violence for female informal workers. Finally, social reproduction duties will intensify for female informal workers. While this can hold for female formal workers, their burden may be relieved through the hiring of domestic help.