IWD2021: The disproportionate effect of Covid-19 on women

This blog was written by Róisín McKane, Fórsa Communications Unit, for Fórsa’s International Women’s Day series.

The Covid-19 crisis has been described as the ‘universal leveller’, with its effects felt far and wide, across every country and demographic.

Research shows, however, that women across the globe have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, when compared to men.

While it is well documented that pandemics can widen gender inequalities, recent studies indicate that the skewed impact of Covid -19 on women is due, in part, to existing gender inequalities.

A prevailing gender pay gap, the responsibility of child and familial care, and inadequate supports have laid the ground work.

In the lead up to International Women’s Day on 8th March, the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) released new findings on the impact of the crisis on gender equality in Europe. And its results were quite startling.

It is estimated that 4.5% of women’s employment is at risk in the pandemic globally, compared with 3.8% of men’s employment, based solely on the industries that women and men work in.

Women make up 40% of the global labour force, yet account for 54% of overall job losses to date, and are disproportionately represented in industries that are declining the most.

Retail, hospitality, residential care, domestic work and clothing manufacturing all suffered heavy job losses in 2020. Women make up the bulk of the workforce in these sectors, and 40% of all jobs lost by women during the crisis were in these professions.

In their July report, McKinsey & Co described how women globally have been 1.8-times as likely as men to lose their jobs due to the pandemic, and reported that societal attitudes have also shaped how women experienced the economic fall-out of this crisis, based on their perceived place in society. They report that gender could be a deciding factor within both organisations and families, based on caring roles and potential earnings.

Despite a resurgence of employment during the summer months, men regained employment at twice the rate of women, indicating that the economic impact of the pandemic is having longer-lasting effects for women

Caring

Covid-19 has significantly increased the responsibility of unpaid care, which is disproportionately carried by women, and is deepening already existing inequalities.

The distribution of caring responsibilities was uneven before the pandemic, with women providing the majority of care for loved ones and for the household. The ESRI and IHREC 2019 report, Caring and Unpaid Work in Ireland, found that on average women spend double the time of men on caring and more than twice as much time on housework.

As Ireland entered the first lockdown last March, the issue was compounded by the closure of schools and childcare facilities. Supports reduced dramatically, resulting in many women providing even more care.

In November 2020 The National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) published their findings on the impact of the crisis on women’s caring responsibilities and their own mental health and wellbeing, following a national survey. The results made for stark reading.

With children home full-time during lockdown, women were now minding children and home-schooling while in many cases, continuing to work. Housework increased due to the added traffic in the home, coupled with heighted hygiene measures to fight the virus. Women also told the survey that even when their caring was shared it was not shared equally, “with women carrying the lion’s share of the load.”

Caring outside the home also increased. As many vulnerable people cocooned, the work of checking in, collecting medicines and grocery shopping fell predominantly to women.

The increased levels of care impacted women’s work life. NWCI reported that as many women earn less than their male partners, their work often took less priority. Some employers were also more understanding of women’s caring roles, compared to male partners, resulting in women providing the majority of care.

In the context of the pandemic, the increased demand for care work is deepening already existing disparities in the gender division of labour, but as we rebuild there is an opportunity to be create something new, and to recognise, reduce and redistribute unpaid care work once and for all.

We must ensure that the Covid-19 crisis does not reverse the gender equality progress achieved in to date.

Gender based violence

The pandemic has also seen global rise in reports of domestic violence against women. Many women are being forced to lockdown at home with their abusers, at the same time that domestic violence services are being disrupted. During the first wave of lockdowns across Europe, shelter and counselling staff reported feeling overwhelmed due to increased demand, as they navigated providing remote support for victims.

Back home, Irish domestic violence services have reported a sharp increase in the number of women and children seeking support since the onset of the pandemic.

Research carried out by Safe Ireland shows that almost 2,000 women and 411 children were in receipt of some kind of support from domestic violence services each month since March 2020. Of these women and children, an average of 575 women and 98 children accessed the service for the first time – a significant number.

The number of helpline calls answered by services also increased since March, with 33,941 helpline calls were answered in a six-month period.

Providers reported significant pressure on services, evidenced in data from Safe Ireland, showing that in the first six months of the pandemic more than 1,300 requests for refuge could not be met due to lack of space. That is an average of 225 per month, or eight requests a day.

Speaking on the matter Mary McDermott, CEO of Safe Ireland, said that even in an extraordinary time of crisis, these numbers were shocking, and called for Government to prioritise and provide the necessary resources.  “Adequate resources and creative solutions are needed to respond to the needs of women but also the needs of the frontline emergency professionals responding to them,” she said.

The EIGE declared that domestic violence supports such as shelters and counselling hotlines, need more funding from Member States to guarantee that victims have free, round-the-clock access to support, and an action plan to combat gender-based violence needs to be part of a wider, long-term strategy on disaster and crisis prevention.

The data shows that this epidemic within a pandemic is not subsiding. The number of protection and interim barring orders granted to victims of domestic violence in Dublin between July and September last year increased by 40% from the same time in 2019.

It is evident that government action and the provision of appropriate resources are needed to prioritise the safety of women and children as we navigate and emerge from the Covid-19 crisis.

Future planning

In its April 2020 policy document, ‘The Impact of Covid-19 on Women’, the United Nations (UN) stated that the pandemic “amplifies and heightens all existing inequalities”.

The brief envisages that while women will be “hardest hit by this pandemic”, they will also be the “backbone of recovery in communities”, and stressed how vital it is to place women’s inclusion, representation, rights, social and economic outcomes, equality and protection at the core of a national response, if they are to have the necessary effects.

The report stresses the importance of  “applying an intentional gender lens” to the design of financial stimulus packages and social assistance programmes to achieve greater equality, opportunities, and social protection of women as we continue to battle and emerge from this pandemic.

The UN also calls for “transformative change for equality” by addressing the care economy, both paid and unpaid.

Siptu’s Working Women’s Charter addresses these demands in their recently published policy document.

Earlier this week Siptu’s Ethel Buckley spoke about the “unfinished revolution” for equal pay for work of equal value, and how this presents the trade union movement with a unique opportunity to lead a movement for gender equality in the world of work.

It is evident that now is the time for a new approach, a fair work agenda. There is a need for female dominated sectors to have collective bargaining rights to shrink the gap on equality.

At a recent webinar, Orla O’Connor of the NWCI has said that collective bargaining is a feminist issue. “It’s essential to closing the gap and achieving equality for women workers,” she said.

There is a need for the national minimum wage to become the living wage, and for robust and functioning sectoral collective bargaining and wage setting mechanisms where there is a predominantly female workforce and low levels of trade union organisation.

There is a need to recognise the value of unpaid caring work, and invest in the more equal distribution of caring responsibilities. There is a need to support women through better state supports including public and affordable childcare, universal social care services and supports for unpaid and paid care.

Looking to the future, we must address the effect of the pandemic on women’s care work, women’s paid employment and equality to ensure that we do not erode gender parity, and continue gain ground on the hard fought wins to date.

 

Róisín McKane, Fórsa Communications Unit