Impact of the Second Wave and Lockdown on SEWA’s informal sector women

This exploration was a quick study that aimed to understand the impact the second wave of the pandemic and the consequent 2021 lockdown brought about on SEWA members of the informal economy; with reference to their livelihoods, savings and income, their experience with the COVID – testing and vaccination and other facets of their life which has been affected by the pandemic. The sample for the study was 300 and the data collection happened between 17th – 21st May. The questionnaire for the study was conducted through phone calls by SEWA Bharat’s team of 8 grassroots researchers. Majority of the respondents in the study were from Delhi (55%); followed by Uttarakhand (23%), Bihar (8%), Jharkhand (5%) and Rajasthan (4%). Data collected from the states was not disaggregated into “rural” and “urban”; however, since more than half of the sample is based out of Delhi, there is a clear urban-bias in the sample. The trades of the women included agricultural workers, domestic workers, street vendors and shop-owners amongst others. Most respondents were around 40 years old.