Women and Work: COVID-19 Highlights Long-Standing Employment Inequities

“Many of us have small shops and bear the responsibility for feeding whole families. We get up early at six in the morning and come home in the evening without a cent because economic life has practically come to a standstill.” in Guinea-Bissau [1].

The feminization of poverty

The COVID-19 pandemic has been financially disastrous for the entire world, but the economic strain has disproportionately fallen on the shoulders of women, particularly in lower-income countries. Zimbabwean sociologist Martha Mutisi refers to this gendered phenomenon as a “a clear feminization of poverty” [1]. Women’s jobs are significantly more at risk during the pandemic; the UN predicts that “women in the Middle East and North Africa will lose a third of total jobs in the region, while representing only a fifth of the labor force.” [2] This is a result of both the gendered nature of work (women and men are prominent in different positions) as well as obstacles posed by gender inequality in society at large [3].

Unpaid labor in the home

One significant reason for the disproportionate economic effect on women is that the burden of unpaid labor has increased as the lockdown has continued. Women already do an enormous share of unpaid labor, as much as 80 or 90% in South Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa [3]. As children are forced to stay home from school, household chores and childcare have increased, labor that of course does not translate to any increase in income [1]. In fact, this added responsibility has contributed to a drop in women’s employment [3], so the ultimate loss of income from closed schools alone is enormous. Unfortunately, closed schools are not the only factor that has negatively impacted women’s employment.

Women are still responsible for many domestic duties such as collecting food during the pandemic[1]

Women’s work in the informal sector

The impact of the pandemic on informal work is perhaps the largest factor in women’s loss of income. Informal retail is struggling during the lockdown because of the restrictions of social distancing and product shortages [4]. Additionally, as families across sectors lose income, they are unable to participate in the informal sector. The pandemic is exacerbating an existing problem: informal sector workers were already poor. Of the 80% of workers in Nigeria who work in the informal sector, 72% lived in poverty prior to the pandemic.[5]

The strength of the informal sector allowed Africa to weather the 2008-2009 recession, so the loss of this source of income will create serious global repercussions. [4] Because informal work is so varied, governments often lack sufficient information to successfully offer financial support [5]. It is estimated that over 90% of jobs in sub-Saharan Africa are in the informal sector, and the majority of these are held by women [6].

Korotoum Coulibaly and Doussou Diarra gather shea nuts in a field outside of Kodiolan, Mali. Photo: Annie Risemberg/IFC[2]

Disparities appear both within and between countries

Lower income countries have a higher proportion of workers in informal positions, which means that the decline of the informal sector will not have symmetrical effects among countries [5]. If this issue is not sufficiently addressed, developing economies will be left even further behind, contributing to overall global inequality for decades to come. This will hit women especially hard.

Gender equality is required for the best recovery

It is clear not only that economic justice is necessary in the pursuit of gender equality, but also that a focus on gender parity is essential to create the most effective global economic recovery. We can see this historically, in moments including WWII and the 1918 flu pandemic, when the leadership of women in the workplace helped reboot economies [2].

The McKinsey Global Institute has tracked three possible outcomes for the global GDP depending on if and when countries take action. They find that “doing nothing to maintain and advance gender parity could negatively influence both the economic and social lives of women, as well as economic growth more broadly. By contrast, investing in women and girls in the recovery represents a significant opportunity to improve gender equality and drive inclusive economic growth.” [3] The benefits of this work outweigh the costs six to eight time overs [3]. Suggested interventions include large scale efforts to address unpaid child care and attitudinal biases, both of which remain enormous obstacles to the economic prosperity of women.

[1] “COVID-19 places extra burden on African women”
https://www.dw.com/en/covid-19-places-extra-burden-on-african-women/a-53795533

[2] “Covid is hurting women economically, but governments have the tools to offset the pain” 
https://blogs.worldbank.org/psd/covid-hurting-women-economically-governments-have-tools-offset-pain

[3] “COVID-19 and gender equality: Countering the regressive effects”
https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/covid-19-and-gender-equality-countering-the-regressive-effects#

[4] “COVID-19 and the future of work in Africa: how to shore up incomes for informal sector workers”
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2020/05/26/covid-19-and-the-future-of-work-in-africa-how-to-shore-up-incomes-for-informal-sector-workers/

[5] “To Save the Economy from COVID-19, Protect Informal Workers”
https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/28911/informal-workers-are-bearing-the-brunt-of-the-coronavirus-economic-impact

[6] “WHO concerned over COVID-19 impact on women, girls in Africa”
https://www.afro.who.int/news/who-concerned-over-covid-19-impact-women-girls-africa