Where Covid-19 leaves gender equality 

This article is written by Laura Turquet, Silke Staab and Constanza Tabbush, members of the research and data team at UN Women

Crises invariably worsen pre-existing inequalities in a society. The public health and economic crises caused by Covid-19 are no different.

Since the spread of the pandemic, it is women who have largely borne the brunt of its effects. Data on this is still emerging, but the existing evidence paints a stark picture. Women have lost jobs at a disproportionate rate compared to men, and are doing even more unpaid care and domestic work than they already were. Lockdown conditions mean many women have endured more violence, as well as harassment both on and offline.

In the US, many service sector businesses have closed. This sector happens to account for much of female employment across the country. This, together with the closure of daycare centres and schools, on which millions of families in the US rely, has contributed to women losing an astonishing 5.4 million jobs over the course of 2020.

And in many developing countries, most employment is informal. Up to 90% of women’s jobs in much of South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, for example, are outside of the formal economy, offering no benefits or protection in times of crisis. Many of these jobs depend on social interactions, none more so than domestic work, which is carried out in private homes.

The International Labour Organisation reports that, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the livelihoods of around three quarters of the world’s domestic workers, 80% of whom are women, have been negatively impacted. With widespread access to vaccines still a long way off, government support is desperately needed to safeguard women’s economic security.

So, how does government action stack up? Data analysis by UN Women and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) shows that the response so far leaves much to be desired.

Tracking the gender gap

For the UNDP-UN Women Covid-19 Global Gender Response Tracker, we reviewed over 3,100 policy measures from 219 countries and territories around the world, providing an invaluable insight into government responses to Covid-19 from a gender perspective. In addition, the most recent update of the tracker includes a brand-new dataset on women’s representation in COVID-19 task forces, compiled with the Gender Inequality Research Lab (GIRL) at the University of Pittsburgh, showing that only 4.4% of the 225 COVID-19 task forces analyzed have gender parity, while the overwhelming majority (84%) are dominated by men.

In light of women’s limited representation in COVID-19 taskforces, it is perhaps unsurprising that we also found significant gaps in the policy response. While almost all countries (214) have implemented at least one social protection or labour market measure, for example, just 13% of these measures (217 out of 1,700) aim to strengthen women’s economic security. Cash transfers, food assistance or other forms of in-kind support that directly prioritise women are among the most common measures. Countries that already began investing in social protections before the pandemic have been able to quickly scale up existing programmes in response to its impact. For example, as early as April last year, Argentina raised the monthly payments for the 4.3 million (predominantly female) beneficiaries of its largest cash transfer programmes by $3,100 Argentine Pesos per month (US$47, at the time).

Before the pandemic, women in nearly every part of the world did on average around three times as much work around the home as men

Other countries, such as Cabo Verde, Colombia, Egypt and Mexico have developed training programmes for women in digital entrepreneurship, e-marketing and e-commerce, as well as financial skills so that they can continue selling their products online during lockdowns and be better equipped to benefit from the re-opening of economic activities. There’s a lot to do to ensure that such measures are sustained, scaled-up and replicated.

Support for unpaid care has been even more limited. UN Women has conducted 52 rapid assessment surveys, which confirm that unpaid care workloads have increased since March 2020, as the responsibility for care has been pushed back into homes.

Comparisons with the world pre Covid-19

Before the pandemic, women in nearly every part of the world did on average around three times as much work around the home as men. Although it appears that men are now doing a little more, women continue to do the vast majority. In the US, one in four women who have lost their job during the pandemic said it was because of a lack of childcare — twice the rate among men. This has major ramifications for women’s economic autonomy, both now and in the long term, and it is also taking a harsh toll on their mental health.

The Covid-19 Global Gender Response Tracker found that only 81 countries have taken steps to address rising unpaid care demands, amounting to just 11% of all social protection and labour market measures. Unfortunately, most of these policies, such as those that extend paid family and sick leave or flexi-work arrangements, benefit people in formal employment. This leaves the majority of informal workers, millions of them women, out in the cold.

There are also important questions about the sustainability of such measures, with many countries rolling back support for childcare, even though the pandemic shows little signs of abating in many regions. By contrast, a handful of countries are rolling out activation measures specifically targeting parents who left the workforce due to caretaking responsibilities. Australia has announced a support package of AUD24.7 million for the ParentsNext programme, which supports parents with skills development, financial aid for job search or training expenses and local counselling services to facilitate their job search as the economy recovers.

What governments must do now

Overall, governments need to do much better on women’s economic security. Yet economic security does not cover all areas of women’s lives. Physical safety is also a major and growing concern. The largest number of gender-sensitive measures in the tracker are in response to violence against women.

Our hope is that governments will use this trove of policy data to learn from others about what can be done and to significantly up their game

Governments are stepping up in this area. Some 149 countries are taking 832 targeted measures, more than 60% of which focus on services for survivors of violence. Many countries are using digital technology to provide access to support and reporting, as well as to ensure the continued operation of the legal courts.

Fiji stands out as a country that has taken a fully comprehensive approach. It has designated front line service providers in this area as “essential”, launching a national campaign to raise awareness all under the auspices of a new Gender-Based Violence Working Group in response to Covid-19.

Watch this space

The pandemic remains a highly dynamic situation, with policy change happening on a daily basis. So, UN Women and UNDP will be launching a tracker update in September 2021, which will include new policy areas, more information on funding for policies, as well as the duration of measures.

For now, our hope is that governments will use this trove of policy data to learn from others about what can be done and to significantly up their game.

Failure to do so will mean that the modest gains for gender equality achieved over the past few decades will become another tragic victim of the Covid-19 pandemic.

— Laura Turquet, Silke Staab and Constanza Tabbush

Picture credit: UN Women