How urban job guarantee schemes can provide equal opportunity to women

Three states launched urban employment guarantee schemes to tackle the pandemic-induced job losses that affected women more than men during the first wave

Heena*, who is in her forties, works under Kerala's Ayyankali Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme (AUEGS) in Ernakulam's Maradu municipality. She has also worked under the national rural jobs programme when Maradu was a panchayat. Heena has supplemented the income of her family of five with the meagre earnings from these employment schemes, alongside other jobs. The fallout of the pandemic has exacerbated her difficulties, like it did for many of India's urban poor. "I have a loan for an under-construction house, my husband is unwell; my eldest son is the only real earning member. An urban employment scheme such as