How do we pay back? Women health workers and the COVID-19 pandemic in India

ABSTRACT

This paper looks at the experiences, vulnerabilities and contributions of women health workers during Covid 19 pandemic in India. It elaborates upon their everyday struggles and issues including incidences of violence against them, poor wages, temporariness of their jobs and other labour rights. The paper further discusses the transitioning characteristics of women health workers in the context of corporate globalization in India. The paper offers a critical reading of health worker's rights from a feminist perspective and raises the challenges and opportunities the pandemic provides in rethinking the role of women health workers in India and women welfare workers in general.