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ABSTRACT

The chaos shaped by the current pandemic has impacted all spheres of our life, and gender roles and norms are no exception to it. India’s performance, when it comes to Gender Equality, is not something worth mentioning and the pandemic may have just worsened it. Women in our country are less formally employed and most of their works remain unaccounted for, nevertheless during pandemic work pressure have amplified manifold on women. Due to lockdown women are at a greater risk to domestic violence and abuse. For working women, it happens to be mostly difficult as they are to manage household chores and office work simultaneously. Due to the closure of schools girls are at higher risk of child marriage, teenage pregnancy, gender-based abuse and decline in reproductive health. Men are also being affected as men are likely to struggle more due to isolation especially single men. The work pressures on men are increasing and many stand at the edge of lay off due to economic downturn. This may create several psychological issues like anxiety, depression and other physical complications. Transgender are also severely affected as most of them earn their livelihood on the streets. And no specific government interventions have also been made to ease the situation for them.

Keywords: COVID-19, gender roles, gender inequality, mental health, transgender.

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Exploring the Impact of COVID-19 in India with a Gender Lens_compressed.pdf