Hyderabad: Female bread-earners among the hardest hit

Hyderabad: The lockdown travails have piled up misery upon misery on marginalised families, especially those supported female bread-earners. Families without men, widows and single mothers are amongst the worst affected in the lockdown. Sole female bread- earners help their families eke out a living, by working as housemaids, tailors and embroidery designers. These days are they are without wages or means even to provide food to the families.

The continuous lockdown and extension shattered the prospects of women who were hoping to make some money during this Ramzan in different parts of the city. As the professions like housemaid were already facing the heat, those who were engaged in textile and clothing industry at different levels are also amongst the worst affected now. Even if there are some NGOs or government agencies are helping out the needy, the households where women are heads of families are losing out on aid and support from others.

Shameem Sultana, who does zari works said that during Ramzan she would get busy as the orders would pour in and she would be able to earn some extra money for her family. But this year even before Ramzan started they were struggling for food and ration. "My family is surviving only because of the help extended by some Good Samaritans," she added.

Similarly, the women tailors who otherwise were busy by this time are crying for attention from voluntary organisations. Zaheda Begum, a tailor, said that she used to work in a store for stitching dress material and during Ramzan she used to stitched daily around 3-4 suits and earn around Rs 15,000 in Ramzan, but now due to lockdown, she was barely surviving. "There are several such women who used to work as bread earners of family and the lockdown has pushed us into destitution," she added.

According to a survey by an NGO, Helping Hand Foundation, more than 60% Muslims in city constitute weaker sections and around 15% (about 7.5 lakh) are widows with no earning male member in family. "These families are the most affected families during lockdown. We appealed to donors to make informed choices on their donations through Zakat and Sadaqa this Ramzan," urged Mujtaba Hasan Askari of HHF.