Study: Women in the workforce have it worse in this pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed a unique labor shock for women in the marketplace: they are overrepresented in sectors worst affected by the pandemic and are further weighed down by household responsibilities, according to a global research by JP Morgan.

“Women’s participation in the labor market is stalling and financial disparities are widening as women are more likely than men to work in the social sectors hardest hit by the pandemic—such as service industries, retail, tourism and hospitality—that require face-to-face interactions,” JP Morgan said in a research note dated March 5.In a publication titled “The Widening Gender Gap: COVID-19 Takes a Toll,” JP Morgan said the pandemic had disproportionate effects on women and their economic status, resulting in historic setbacks on some metrics, as women faced greater disruption due to the nature of their jobs and greater responsibility for child care.

“The gender pay gap remains persistent and is widening as women are reducing hours to meet childcare demands,” the research said.

Disadvantage

Furthermore, the study noted that women remained at a significant disadvantage to men in accessing capital, credit, financial services, and property ownership.

“The employment burden of a typical economic downturn is usually borne more heavily by men, who are overrepresented in pro-cyclical sectors like construction, trade, and manufacturing. Women, meanwhile, have greater representation in counter-cyclical industries, like services, health care, government and education, and tend to be more protected from job losses in economic downturns,” the study said. The study noted that during the global financial crisis of 2007-2008, men had contributed much more to rising unemployment rates across Europe and the United States.

This is no longer the case today. “The COVID-19 crisis does not display the characteristics of a typical recession; this time, women and men have contributed more equally to the rise in the unemployment rate,” the research said.

33-year low

In the US, the study noted that female participation in the labor force declined to a 33-year low as their jobs were concentrated in the pandemic-hit services sector while more and more were attending to child care.

It added that labor flexibility for women was a “double-edged sword” as it often came with greater vulnerability in the form of lower job security and wages.

Women in emerging markets (EM) lag behind their developed market (DM) counterparts on nearly all gender metrics, with an even wider divergence post-COVID-19, JP Morgan said.

“Women in EM are at greater risk of losing human capital as young girls are forced to drop out of school and work to supplement household income,” the research said.

Average female participation in the EM workforce has remained relatively stable over the recent years at around 30 percent.

Meanwhile, slow progress was also noted in terms of female representation on boards and at the C-suite or executive level. The same can be said for closing the gender pay gap, according to JP Morgan.

Across the globe, female representation in the C-suite remains little changed, with women accounting for just 4.8 percent of global CEO seats in 2020 compared to 4.3 percent in 2019. INQ