Equality of women and men in the world of work has been hampered since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. The International Labour Organization (ILO) has stressed on Tuesday that the economic crisis generated by the health emergency has more affected sectors with more workers, destroyed more female employment than men and mobilized all care for children, older and dependents to households by the closure of education and care centres.

All this work has not been distributed in a balanced manner in the pandemic, as they have explained that the impact of the pandemic on working women has been "disproportionate". There is a risk of “losing the modest advances” that have been made in the field of gender equality in recent decades and of “increasing work-related gender inequalities”, according to the latest ILO report on the impact of the pandemic on the world of work. They have indicated that the damage to employment caused by the pandemic has been far greater than expected by the organization. Globally, hours lost in the second quarter of 2020 amounted to 14%, resulting in the destruction of 480 full-time jobs (40 hours a week), resulting in the loss of 365 million jobs.

Hit by unemployment

The organization has also offered more worrying data, as the presence of women in the labour market remains lower than that of men and economic activity is permeated by obstacles such as the wage gap. This latest crisis has also a clear feature, as women’s employment is at greater risk than men’s, particularly because of the consequences of the crisis on the services sector.

Globally, of all employed women, almost 510 million, or 40 per cent, work in the most affected sectors. These include hospitality and food services, wholesale and retail trade, real estate, trade, administrative activities and manufacturing. The proportion of men employed in these areas is 36.6%, the rest being women.

Devaluation

In particular, the ILO has stressed that anti-pandemic measures have been very harmful to people working in household services, and that the protagonists in this sector are women. According to the body's estimates of 4 June, 55 million people, 72.3% of household workers worldwide, "in the absence of an effective closure and coverage of social security are at high risk of job and income loss".

In the Spanish State, for example, domestic workers still have no recognition of their right to unemployment. The Government accepted the temporary subsidy for them when the pandemic was imminent, but only for those in a regular situation. Among informal workers, there are also more women globally, most notably migrants, who have remained in a situation of extreme vulnerability during this crisis. States have banned traditional movement, which has hampered the work of these people and, moreover, have no option to social protection.

Relative recovery

By way of example, the ILO stresses that in all cases the reduction in year-on-year employment in April and May has been "significantly greater" for women than for men. In Canada, for example, the reduction in employment for women was 16.5%, while for men it was 13.8%. In the Spanish State, Minister José Luis Escriva stressed that the loss of employment recorded in the first months of the pandemic affected men and women “to a similar extent”, with 524,000 fewer men and 423,000 fewer women. However, the recovery of employment registered until mid-June has left many women behind: The number of people employed has risen to 226,000 and that of women to 62,000.

Burden of surveillance

The risk to women’s jobs is not limited to equal work. Closures of educational centres and centres for persons in situations of dependency have returned all family care tasks to households. Once at home, these tasks fall on women, according to Spanish state studies. Prior to the pandemic, the ILO recalls that "women assumed about three-quarters of all unpaid care work". The time dedicated to caring for women "is exacerbated when children are at home", as has happened during confinement. The institution also highlights the “special difficulty” of single-parent families, mostly women, with 78.4% of the cases.

Graduation of conditions

Flexible working hours and the implementation of teleworking have been some of the measures that many companies have taken during these months of confinement, "which may be more common in the future", according to the ILO. The organisation has called on countries to ensure "equal opportunities" in telework between men and women, as well as "appropriate treatment of safety and health at work, including domestic violence". The ILO recalls that "previous crises have shown that when women lose their jobs they become more involved in unpaid care work and when jobs are scarce, women are often denied job opportunities available to men." It has therefore warned that this latest crisis "threatens to end women's incomes in the labour market, as well as positive changes in the distribution of unpaid care".