How will gender equality look in the post Covid-19 era?

Before Covid-19, women accounted for 39% of the global paidworkforce, yet data has suggested that women have been disproportionally hit harder than men as a result of the economic recession and unemployment that the pandemic has caused. So what does this mean for gender equality?

@thesketshich

In the last century, the rise of the female paid workforce has been one of the greatest economic developments. Not only has it had a significant impact on social development, but it has also contributed greatly to female emancipation and gender equality. The impact of Covid-19, however, has threatened to undo centuries worth of work on feminism and gender equality, especially in the workplace, as women around the world bearing the brunt of the pandemic.

Data is beginning to show that the economic recession caused by Covid-19 is having a two-pronged effect on women. The female workforce seem to be at greater risk of unemployment because many of the sectors that have been hardest hit by Covid-19 are female orientated. We have all seen the closure of businesses in the hospitality, retail, care, beauty and leisure sectors – where female employment is concentrated. With businesses in these industries reporting the greatest losses in earnings and employees, it is understandable that more women are reported to have been made redundant or furloughed for extended periods of time. 

In the US, one of the countries worst hit by the virus, women have seen a three point drop in employment levels. The US Labor Bureau recorded female unemployment at 15.7% in April compared to the 13.3% of unemployed women at the start of the year. Although the figure increased slightly to 14.3% percent in May, many women are reporting that they can only find part-time or temporary employment. Even more devastating, are the figures relating to women of ethnic minorities, who have seen almost a 30% decrease in employment over the last few months.

Th second blow from Covid-19 comes in the form of childcare and how many women around the world are having to choose between professional and childcare responsibilities. Globally women already occupy 75% ofdomestic, unpaid workload – and data from both UK and US sources show the extent of women’s contribution to men’s.

Childcare occupies a large percentage of unpaid domestic labour and the closure of schools and childcare placements has forced many women to stop working. For women working from home, being able to multitask professional and childcare work has been a challenge that often results in female employees taking unpaid leave, sick pay or being furloughed. A charity campaign group that conducted a survey on mothers working from home concluded that:

“57 per cent (of women) thought increased childcare responsibilities had negatively affected their career prospects, or would harm them in future”.

The main reason for this seems to be a lack of flexibility for mothers to complete their work duties while providing childcare. Isn’t interesting, then, that this is not a widespread concern for fathers, who are statistically less likely to assume childcare responsibilities despite also working from home.

For the women who are able or required to go into to work, the lack of external childcare has meant they simply cannot. There are many cases of single mothers who have been unable to arrange childcare whilst they go into work so have, again, been forced to take unpaid or annual leave. Whilst other women have decided to take on the childcare duties to allow their partners to continue to work. The result of this simply means that women are more likely to become unemployed after Covid-19 or that they will fall behind on their paid work, putting them at a distinct disadvantage than their colleagues.

The threat of this, of course, is a potentially widening wage gap and a reversion to gender disparity in the workplace. Payscale has found that for women who have had to take time off work, their compensation offers upon returning to the workforce are 7% lower than others in the same roles. Women who have lost their jobs in ‘low skilled’ sectors risk being unable to find other employment or, in some cases, finding work for a lesser wage. Some women also fear that their decision to stay away from work to assume childcare responsibilities will disadvantage them upon returning to work. Many fear that they will fall behind colleagues when it comes to knowledge and targets because of the period of time that they have spent off.

So what needs to happen to ensure gender equality does not move three steps back?

Firstly, it is essential that policy makers design recovery efforts with gender equality in mind. Committing financial recovery and bailouts to industries populated with female employees will ensure that the proportion of unemployed women stays relatively low. It is also the responsibility of employers to implement more flexible working conditions which allow for mothers to work around childcare responsibilities. The advice issued by UNICEF on the best ways to support working parents states that flexible working conditions are key:

“Because the needs of working parents can vary greatly, different types of flexible work arrangements support parents to care for their children and families.”

As the prospect of schools being closed for longer is becoming more apparent, it is essential that employers take the time to devise the most workable solution for parents so that dual parent households can organise accordingly.

Most importantly, one of the most simple ways to facilitate women’s paid work during the pandemic, and indeed avoid an increasing gender disparity, is for fathers to contribute more to the domestic, unpaid labour that seems to occupy so much of women’s time. In supporting mothers with childcare and household responsibilities, men are allowing women the time to go back to work and creating a more level playing field in the work place.

Covid-19 has changed the world in many ways, but it is important that we prevent it from reversing the progressive social and economic advancements that have been made over the last 100 years. Governments, employers and households alike have a responsibility to reduce the effect that Covid-19 has on gender equality so that the economic progression of women can still continue to grow.