International Webinar on ’Mapping the Pandemic: Plight of Women , Migrant Labourers & the Human Mind’

Loreto College organized an International Webinar on Mapping the Pandemic: Plight of Women, Migrant Labourers and the Human Mind on June 26th, 2020. The resource persons were Prof. Samita Sen, University of Cambridge, Dr. Manisha Madhava, SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai, and Dr. Sreemoyee Tarafdar, West Bengal State University, with Mrs. Sharmila Mitra Deb as the moderator.

Mrs. Mitra Deb, as the convener, explained how the outbreak of the pandemic made seven billion people stop in their tracks and rethink their life’s choices. She further stated that while the pandemic might have affected the world without discriminating on grounds of economic status, gender or race, the impact on different groups has been skewed . The speakers threw light upon the adverse effects of the pandemic on various sections of the population of India. Prof. Samita Sen spoke on the feminization and stigmatisation of women domestic workers across the ages and how the pandemic led to a re-evaluation of the importance of the domestic workers in middle class households. Dr. Madhava highlighted the plight of the migrant labourer at the outbreak of the pandemic and how the imposition of lock down impacted them in several ways depriving them of employment and at the same time not allowing them to go to their native places in the absence of any transport facilities. Dr. Tarafdar explained that the pandemic had a multi-pronged effect on both children and young adults in the absence of physical and social interaction and tried to sensitise the audience towards the stress and anxiety experienced by today’s youngsters. The webinar thus addressed the consequences of COVID-19 on women, migrant labourers and the human mind and was attended by faculty members not only from all over India but also from Africa.