Economic Impact of COVID-19 on women
While everyone is facing unprecedented challenges, women are bearing the brunt of the economic fallout of COVID-19. Women are losing their jobs. The pandemic and measures to prevent its spread are driving a disproportionate increase in women’s unemployment and also decreasing their overall working time. Women are overrepresented in many of the industries hardest hit by COVID-19, such as food service, retail and entertainment.
Across the globe, women earn less, save less, hold less secure jobs, are more likely to be employed in the informal sector. They have less access to social protections and are the majority of single-parent households. Their capacity to absorb economic shocks is therefore less than that of men. As women take on greater care demands at home, their jobs will also be disproportionately affected by cuts and lay-offs.
It is possible to project that the impacts of the COVID-19 global recession will result in a prolonged dip in women’s incomes and labor force participation, with compounded impacts for women already living in poverty.
The pandemic-induced poverty surge will also widen the gender poverty gap – meaning, more women will be pushed into extreme poverty than men. This is especially the case among those aged 25 to 34, at the height of their productive and family formation period. In 2021, it is expected there will be 118 women aged 25 to 34 in extreme poverty for every 100 men aged 25 to 34 in extreme poverty globally, and this ratio could rise to 121 poor women for every 100 poor men by 2030.
