Disproportionate impact of Covid-19 deepens inequalities for women: WB

KARACHI: The disproportionate impact of the Covid-19 deepened inequalities for the women, as it hindered their progress, a World Bank paper revealed.

Over a year into the pandemic, the world has witnessed the negative impacts of the infectious disease and lockdown measures, the paper said, adding that the pandemic is not gender-blind: Women are doing more domestic chores and family care than men. They have been more likely to lose jobs than male counterparts, and [the] sectors that employ a higher share of women have been especially affected by the crisis.

This is the case, particularly in the sectors that were hit hard by the Covid-19, such as the hospitality industry, as well as microbusinesses.

Since the onset of the pandemic, the World Bank has been conducting surveys with around 45,000 firms in 49 mostly low- and middle-income countries to grasp the impact of the crisis on companies.

Regarding its impact on women-led enterprises, the paper showed that April to September 2020 remained the most challenging months for many businesses around the globe. The results of this study, “The first global assessment of gender differences in the impacts of Covid-19 on enterprises”, were sobering.

In the hospitality industry, men-led companies exhibited a 60 per cent year-on-year drop in anticipated sales, while the companies led by women estimated a 68 per cent YoY decrease (controlling for size, income, and the severity of the shock).

Similarly, the women-led businesses faced greater financial risk, with many reporting having less cash available to cover their costs than their male counterparts.

Despite the challenges, the women-led businesses are responding to the Covid-19 crisis with resilience and innovation. In fact, the survey found out that women-led small and microbusinesses were much more likely to increase the use of digital platforms, compared with those led by men.

The firms globally are turning to technology to cope with the pandemic, it was encouraging to see that women-led microbusinesses are leading the charge, the paper said.

It also revealed that the gender gap remains when it comes to the public support programmes enacted by the governments around the globe. On an average, women-led businesses were 2 percentage points less likely to report accessing public support, compared with the companies led by men.

This shows a need for the policymakers to raise awareness among the women-led businesses of the available support programmes, as well as to better inform women managers and owners on how they may benefit from these policy measures.

The Covid-19 crisis is still evolving every minute, while the vaccination campaigns across the world have helped businesses reopen and recover, it is vital for the policymakers and the global development community to keep track of the gender-disaggregated data on the impact of the pandemic on companies, especially those in hard-hit sectors. This information will be crucial, as the countries work to build a more equal and resilient economy, it added.

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