Title: Dr. Jeni Klugman on COVID-19’s Toll on Women and the State of Gender Equality

GJIA: The Beijing +25 report mentions how COVID-19 is worsening gender inequality in the labor market. Why are female workers disproportionately impacted, and how has this played out globally?

JK: We have seen disproportionate impacts all around the world arising for several reasons. On the one hand, women are on the front lines in many of the jobs that they hold. For example, about eighty percent of healthcare workers are women. Many women work in frontline jobs like retail, supermarkets, and so on, which are subject to larger health risks in terms of infection. But on the other hand, they are also working in occupations which have been disproportionately affected by shutdowns and are often in positions which are unable to be done remotely, which have led to larger numbers of redundancies and layoffs. Combined with the widespread closure of schools and childcare in many countries means that the care needs at home are much larger than in the past. There are surveys from the United States, United Kingdom, and elsewhere showing that women are carrying the bulk of child care and home responsibilities, which is the case in normal times. But in these abnormal times, particularly with the closure of schools and childcare, means that it is very difficult to juggle and sustain.

If you look at the most recent figures just for the United States, for example, between August to September, around one million Americans withdrew from the labor force, of whom 800 thousand were women. Women are dropping out at approximately four times the rate of men. This is obviously a concern in the short term, but it is also a concern in the long term because labor economists have looked at previous recessions and episodes where withdrawal from the labor force can have longer-term repercussions because it is more difficult to re-enter. You not only lose your current earnings, but you also lose experience and the opportunities to advance. There are a whole host of reasons to be very concerned about this.

You mentioned how this is not only a short term employment loss, but there are a whole host of long term implications. Could you further elaborate on how this loss of employment might actually stunt development for women?

The inability to enter the labor market, initial job loss, and being forced to go part-time are all things which can have negative implications for career progression and earnings as well. These are the immediate impacts. But if you look at a graph, you can imagine slow expected growth of earnings over time, but you can see a whole reversal of that. It will eventually resume again, but what you have lost in the time being is unlikely to be fully reversed. You will end up behind in the long term.

Are there any countries which you would say are doing a good job stabilizing this disproportionate impact on women?

There was a good example from Australia (where I am from), where in March they introduced free child care and kept all the child care centers open. That was an important move that clearly removed the cost barriers, which can be prohibitive, particularly for lower-income workers. It is important for families, but it is particularly important for women for the reasons we have discussed. However, that ended in July or August. It was not a permanent change; it was a temporary one.

I have not actually seen this challenge being well addressed elsewhere, although one might well expect that there are innovations or at least experiments taking place which allow for some degree of coping. Some employers have become more flexible by allowing people to work remotely. But when you have the balance of care at home falling on women, without the underlying changes and norms and arrangements for that at home, it is very difficult for employers to directly address it.

What recommendations would you give to the US government or other governments around the world as to how to better address this issue because it is so rooted in cultural norms. What could the government do better in order to lessen these structural inequalities?

I think affordable childcare is key—I would put that at number one on the list. I would also encourage employers to think about ways to make work flexible, both in terms of hours as well as location, in ways that do not assume that it is only going to be women who are taking that up. Male leaders and managers within organizations need to demonstrate that it is possible to work part-time or balance care responsibilities in ways that do not lead to prejudice or worsened prospects. But I think the number one priority on this has to be affordable childcare and extended daycare as well. Some schools finish relatively early in the afternoons, which could mean that women are expected to be working part-time to be able to care for them. So having good quality, affordable care is very much at the top of the list.

The report also mentions how COVID-19 not only has worsened gender inequality in the labor market, but it has also facilitated a “shadow pandemic” due to spikes in violence against women. Could you further elaborate on how this shadow pandemic has manifested and to what extent it is affecting women?

Indeed, there were early reports and continuing reports about spikes in violence. One can see how that might come about because of the combination of increased stress, rising levels of poverty, household financial concerns, as well as the fact that people being cooped up together leads to increased risks of violence. The risks of violence are always there, but the underlying factors are amplified in the context of COVID lockdowns. Added to this is the concern that women and their families may not have anywhere to go, and it may be very difficult to report, leaving people in very difficult circumstances.

There are some interesting innovations taking place with new forms of hotlines and texts being run by various civil society organizations. There are some interesting examples from Europe about codes and sign language being introduced so that people could use them when they are out in public to signify that they are under threat without necessarily using their phones. This is because, in some abusive relationships, women either do not have their own phones or do not have control of them, so it can be risky to use them to report violence. Another important aspect relates to the response of the justice system. While many courts have closed down, it is important that they still be in a position to issue protection orders and interim orders to ensure the safety of women and their families when they are under threat.