Women would be the most affected by economic crisis 2:25
(CNN Spanish) -
Women and girls have borne the brunt of the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, because as UN Women says, "the impacts of crises are never neutral" in terms of gender.
And the Covid-19 crisis is no exception.
The coronavirus pandemic has made gender inequality more evident, affecting women more, according to a UN report.
“Globally, 70% of health workers and emergency personnel are women,” UN Women said in a September 2020 report. “And yet they are not on par with their male counterparts.
At 28%, the gender pay gap in the health sector is higher than the overall gender pay gap.
UN Women also noted that "poor and marginalized women face an even greater risk of COVID-19 transmission and deaths, loss of livelihoods and increased violence."
In economic and health terms, women have been hit the hardest amid the coronavirus crisis.
Here are some examples.
Family violence, increased risk of contagion, stress: the social impact of the coronavirus is severely affecting women, warns the UN
Latinas, among the most affected by unemployment as a result of covid-19 2:44
More women have lost their jobs during the coronavirus crisis
Hundreds of thousands of women - nearly eight times the number of men - left the U.S. workforce in September 2020, according to U.S. government information released in October.
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About 617,000 women left the workforce in September alone, compared with just 78,000 men, according to the government published on Friday.
Half of the women who dropped out were in the best working age of 35 to 44 years.
Additionally, the economic downturn caused by COVID-19 has disproportionately affected women of color more, according to C. Nicole Mason, president and CEO of the Institute for Women's Policy Research.
"We are talking about women who earn less than $ 40,000 a year, who are ... supermarket clerks, restaurant workers, who if they don't show up for work, that is, to a physical place, they don't get paid," Mason told her. to CNN.
"So it's a really, really difficult time for a lot of these women and a lot of these workers."
Millions of girls dropped out of school
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Unesco, estimates that 11 million girls will stop going to school in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The number, which the organization called "alarming," puts thousands of girls at risk of having teenage pregnancies, early and forced marriages, as well as violence.
An alarming number of women left the workforce last month in the US.
Preserving employment and health, priorities in Latin America 26:56
More women are at risk of extreme poverty
According to a report by UN Women, the coronavirus pandemic will cause 96 million people to fall into extreme poverty by 2021. Of that global figure, 47 million will be girls and women, according to UN Women.
And, with this situation, "more women will be pushed into extreme poverty than men," says the UN.
“In 2021, there are expected to be 118 women aged 25 to 34 in extreme poverty for every 100 men aged 25 to 34 in extreme poverty worldwide, and this proportion could rise to 121 poor women for every 100 poor men to 2030 ", says the UN Women report.
And with the downturn in economic activity, women, who typically earn less than men, are the most vulnerable to layoffs and ways to earn a living, said Antra Bhatt, a statistician and co-author of the report From Insights to Action. of UN Women.
Women do more unpaid work during the pandemic
Before the COVID-19 crisis began, women did nearly three times more unpaid care and domestic work than men, according to UN Women.
Due to confinement orders around the world since March 2020 by covid-19, child care, unpaid work and care work have fallen mainly on women, a situation that "further limits their ability to perform paid work, especially when jobs cannot be done remotely, ”says the UN.
The mass attrition rate of women in the September 2020 workforce is due at least in part to a lack of child care options, said Russel Price, Ameriprise's chief economist, in comments emailed to CNN.
Employment in childcare services was still down nearly 18% in September from its pre-pandemic level, it added.
Women take better care of themselves against covid-19, according to study 0:43
More women are health workers
Women make up 70% of the workforce in the health field, according to the UN.
Many are nurses, midwives, and community health workers.
But they also represent the majority of service personnel in health facilities "such as cleaners, washing machines and food providers," says UN Women.
Despite this and the high exposure they have to being infected by covid-19, many of them still do not receive equal salaries and occupy fewer leadership positions compared to men, according to the UN.
The consequences will last beyond the pandemic
With the development of several vaccines against the coronavirus in sight, which could provide a calm panorama and a solution, at least in part to the pandemic, the situation of women seems to have no short-term solution.
According to UN Women, the consequences of the coronavirus "will not go away" when the pandemic ends.
"Women are likely to experience setbacks in terms of labor force participation and earnings."
In addition, the UN says, the impacts on their savings and pensions will have negative implications on the economic security of women in the future.
To this end, experts recommend that governments include women in recovery efforts to mitigate the negative impact on the lives of millions of them.
Among the actions are: granting direct financial support to women, directly financing women's ventures, supporting working women and providing caregivers with paid leave and a reduced or flexible work arrangement.
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