International Women’s Day | Impact of the pandemic on gender equality

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The Covid-19 pandemic persists a year down the line, and while the country is jogging back to a semblance of normalcy, not everyone will make it past the finish line at the same pace. For some of us, the pandemic has had a harsher impact than others. Women across the world have had to bear a more severe fallout from Covid-19, unlike their male counterparts.

While we work tirelessly to achieve the end goal of gender equality, this past year threatens to reset some of the progress made in this regard. Using data and trends from unemployment surveys in the United States and India where gender-disaggregated data is available, the study estimates that female job loss rates owing to COVID-19 are about 1.8 times higher than the male job loss rates globally, at 5.7% versus 3.1%, respectively.

Data suggests that in India, women entrepreneurs are struggling to survive and women employed as both skilled and unskilled workers across sectors, be it at construction sites or call centers, have lost their livelihoods. The situation is much worse for the migrant women and differently abled women workers as they are already grappled with payment disparity.

Amid the pandemic, women have added domestic responsibilities to the already high expectations of juggling between home and work life. Coupled with increased uncertainty surrounding job security, this makes women susceptible to exploitation.

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Data released by the National Commission of Women also indicate this vulnerability. Antonio Guterres, the Secretary General of the United Nations stated that there is “horrifying global surge in domestic violence” linked to Covid-19-induced lockdowns.

It seems that the impact of the pandemic is disproportionately felt by women, especially those who continue to be expected to balance the role of a traditional caretaker of the household while juggling a full-time job, significantly reversing that was achieved towards gender equality in the past couple of years.

As companies shift back to traditional working models and working from home reduces, it is but natural that women will have to handle the transition back into physical offices. All this combined is likely to lead to an unfortunate situation where some women are forced to compromise and accept setbacks to their careers.

Nonetheless, in general, some companies have come up with increasingly creative policies that accommodate women expectations, such as period leaves, extended maternity benefits, caretaker allowances and even extended paternity leaves to relieve the burden of women.

Now with the pandemic receding, organisations will need to extend a hand and boost women participation in the recovering market, by ensuring flexibility to return to work, such as through flexi-hours, work from home support, realistic performance targets, and mentorship support.

Given these unprecedented times, women must be accorded the opportunity and support to excel at their careers and come back to work!

(The writer is Partner, J Sagar Associates. Views expressed are personal)