Madhu Shahi

On Sunday at noon, around a dozen women were walking on the empty streets in Kohalpur Municipality Ward No. 11 with a load of firewood on their backs. When they saw a team of security personnel patrolling the road, they turned the other way, travelled a bit further and took another route home. They knew they were defying the nationwide lockdown but not by choice. 

The coronavirus crisis and the lockdown has robbed the women of their jobs. Daily essentials are emptying in their households and they can’t afford to buy cooking gas. Hence, they travel every day to the jungles to collect firewood. 

This is how the women in Shantinagar spend their days. 

Janaki Pariyar, a daily wage earner, said that she visits the jungles every other day in search of firewood. 

“Besides the regular household chore, we have other things to take care of during this lockdown,” said the mother of four. “We have to manage food to eat and firewood to cook it. We are getting by so far but we don’t know how long we can manage if the lockdown continues.” 

With everybody confined in their houses since the government has imposed a nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of Covid-19, it’s the women who have to shoulder the extra burden of housework, Sumitra Nepali, whose husband returned from India two months ago, said. “For us, the lockdown has been a curse.” 

It’s harder for those women who depend on daily wage to make a living. 

“We have to do the housework while also making ends meet,” Sunita Shahi, another local from Shantinagar, said. “And the worse thing during the lockdown is we can’t go searching for work.”

Published on: 14 April 2020 | The Kathmandu Post