Considering the present scenario due to COVID-19, we can look at the growing despair among the youth. Most have opted for some sort of online jobs or some other way to stabilize themselves financially during the pandemic.
The Coronavirus pandemic has hit harder the transport and factory workers who were daily wage workers and had to do hard labour to sustain themselves and their family’s needs.
Being a time of distress and pandemic, there has been a lack of job opportunities and growing despair. Even various IT companies have also shut down, so what about the workers who were already being paid meagre wages? They have been shattered with no hopes of jobs.
Now looking deeper into the effects of job losses, what about the family who is dependent, who struggle for food in any possible ways? There is an estimated increased rate of dropouts of girls from schools as the situation advances. Because of the situation, there is an estimated increase in trafficking. The girls who were already cut off from the schools to do daily household work are now involved in even miserable work. Further, this has increased the gender gap in education.
People don’t look at the dual development goals, and they find the male child to be in more need of education as it is considered necessary. Early marriages are encouraged so as to reduce family pressure, as girl child at home is considered a burden which is being evoked as a further problem raised by feminists. They may be then accused of their ‘characters’ by in the laws’ family and are highly underrated due to their inferior education and skills. Her rights are ignored she the are harassed in various activities.
We must put pressure on the government to make education an essential aspect for girls coming from marginalised backgrounds. The government should launch some good and effective schemes, otherwise, the scenario would be even more pathetic than it is now, and then girls’ exploitation and harassment would be more common. Raising issues in favour of women is the need of the hour.
The government must pay heed and look at the dropout rate of the girl child (especially during the pandemic), and it is quite disappointing to hear the current figures.