NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY

-----¡&¡-----

ASSIGNMENT
ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

TOPIC:
“Impacts of COVID-19 on gender inequality in the workplace”

Student’s name: Nguyen Thi Ngoc Minh

Student’s ID: 11224268

Class: Finance TT 64D

Ha Noi, February 2023

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................3

MAIN CONTENTS...........................................................................................................4

I. DEFINITIONS OF GENDER EQUALITY..........................................................4

II. GENDER INEQUALITY DURING COVID-19...............................................4

1. Unequal payment...................................................................................................5

2. Barriers to promotion............................................................................................6

3. Working pressure..................................................................................................7

III. GENDER INEQUALITY AFTER COVID-19..................................................9

1. Unequal recovery...................................................................................................9

2. Increasing burnout level.....................................................................................10

IV. SOLUTIONS......................................................................................................11

1. Mentoring............................................................................................................11

2. Strengthening the care infrastructure................................................................11

3. Minding the financial literacy gap.....................................................................12

CONCLUSION................................................................................................................14

REFERENCE..................................................................................................................15

2
 ABSTRACT
Being recognized ever since 1948 as part of international human rights law
in the UN General Assembly, Gender Equality has always been an aspect that
demands attention. Gender inequality, however, is an issue that takes long-term
solutions. The World Economic Forum’s recent Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI)
predicts that, at the current rate of progress, it will take 132 years to reach full
gender parity. However, according to the UN, up to 286 years is needed to close
gaps in legal protection and remove discriminatory laws and up to 140 years to
achieve parity in women’s representation in managerial positions in the workplace.
Up to the present, workplaces are still gendered to some extent, reflecting social
norms of women being the caregivers, creating problems for women in the
workplace.

Furthermore, the COVID-19 crisis has raised concerns about its potential to
worsen gender inequality in the workplace. Certainly, the pandemic has
significantly impacted the economy, leaving harms that take long-term recovery.
The labour force, regardless of gender, has suffered losses from the crisis, leading
to the question of whether the process of achieving gender parity has been affected
by the pandemic as well.

Therefore, it is essential to acknowledge not only the damages made during

the pandemic but also the aftershocks of the crisis. By addressing the problems
underlying women’s hardships in the workplace created during and post-pandemic,
solutions, short and long-term, to recover the harms done by COVID-19 will also
take place.

3
 MAIN CONTENTS
I. DEFINITIONS OF GENDER EQUALITY

According to the Glossary of Terms and Concepts by UNICEF in 2017, gender

equality refers to:

“The concept that women and men, girls and boys have equal conditions,
treatment and opportunities for realizing their full potential, human rights and
dignity, and for contributing to (and benefitting from) economic, social, cultural
and political development. … Equality does not mean that women and men will
become the same but that women’s and men’s rights, responsibilities and
opportunities will not depend on whether they are born male or female.”

Gender inequality, therefore, refers to the concept of people getting treated

differently based on genders. In the workplace, gender inequality has been shown
behind barriers of promotion, pressure, unequal payment, etc. for women.

II. GENDER INEQUALITY DURING COVID-19

Compared to the previous crisis - The Great Recession in 2008, the Covid-19
pandemic differs in many aspects. The Great Recession is shown to have impacted
men more significantly, due to its severe effects on production occupations such as
construction and manufacturing, which were mostly occupied by men labour. On
the other hand, the Covid-19 crisis demanded lockdown measures, affecting the
provision of services, creating the additional need for unpaid work, resulting in
women being affected more during the pandemic. The effects varied in many
aspects; however, this section will focus on the gendered effects of the crisis in the
workplace.

4
 1. Unequal payment

According to the International Labour Organization, globally, women are paid

about 20% less than men. While characteristics such as education, skills,
experiences, working hour, etc., contribute to this, gender discrimination is
responsible for a large part of the gender pay gap. In addition, the Covid-19 crisis
is shown to have widened the gap by a considerable amount. Around the world, the
gap, both controlled and uncontrolled, increased significantly during the pandemic,
shown in the figure below:

Source: PayScale

Nevertheless, this gap differs in regions. At a country level, the data suggests
that in the US, when comparing all women and men who worked in 2020,
regardless of how many hours they worked, for every dollar a white, non-Hispanic
5
man earned, an average woman earned 73 cents, and this gap is even worse for
black, Native American and Latina women as they earned 58 cents, 50 cents and
49 cents, respectively. However, the gender gap had been narrowing, according to
PayScale, a Seattle-based maker of compensation software, until the crisis reversed
that trend as the wage gap fell from 13% in 2017 to approximately 18% in 2020. In
Vietnam, according to Vietnam's General Statistics Office (GSO), it is estimated
that during the pandemic, the gender earnings gap fell at 29.5% - 21.5% in urban
areas and 35.2% in rural areas. It is also stated in the report that women work
similar hours to men and there is no significant difference in education levels,
despite the pay gap.

This is due to the fact women are over-represented in the hardest-hit sectors,
making the COVID-19 crisis a “she-cession” rather than a “man-cession” as the
previous crisis. Additionally, as stated previously, the crisis increased the amount
of unpaid work, which is performed mostly by women, leading to women workers
leaving the labour force, raising the unemployment rate in women.

2. Barriers to promotion

The crisis has forced everyone to adapt to a new way of life and a new method
of working. However, data suggests that not everyone had the same experience
with this adjustment.

According to a study by Qualtrics and theBoardlist, it is evident that working

remotely had more detrimental effects on women’s professional careers than
men’s. While men workers were reported to have had their careers more positively
impacted and were more likely to want to continue this way of working after the
crisis, a significantly smaller percentage of women held that opinion.

6
 Source: Qualtrics

The same trend is shown in working parents as well. While working from home
generally had positive impacts on parents as they were able to take care of unpaid
work without wasting time traveling from one place to another, hence working
more effectively, women still suffered more from barriers to promotion. According
to the same study, 34% of men with children at home said they had received a
promotion during the lockdown, but only 9% of women with children at home had
the same experience. Additionally, 26% of men with children at home received a
pay raise, while only 13% of women with children at home were treated the same
way.

3. Working pressure

While gendered impacts of workplace pressure had existed pre-pandemic, the

crisis nearly doubled the burnout gap between women and men, according to the
Women In The Workplace report. Another research done in the EU suggests that
depression risk during the lockdown for female workers had remained higher than

7
for males, with the gender gap varying between 5% and 8%, as shown by the chart
below:

A pan-European study by Toffoluttiet al (2022) suggested that the significant

increase of the burnout gap is due to the introduction of restrictions during
lockdown including stay-at-home requirements, internal movement restrictions,
school closures and workplace closures. This leads to women accepting part-time
work or internal roles in the workplace, which further derail their professional
careers, hence contributing to gender inequality. Furthermore, during the crisis,
women were 1.3 times more likely to consider dropping out of the workforce or
slowing down their careers than men.

On the bright side, “Women are caught in the ultimate burnout Catch-22: They
suffer it more and also do more to combat it,” write the researchers of the
McKinsey study. According to the Women In The Workplace 2022, women senior
leaders have done 60% more to provide emotional support to employees than their
male counterparts. However, the process of taking care of others’ well-being can

8
also increase the amount of stress in women workers, contributing to the existing
problem.

III. GENDER INEQUALITY AFTER COVID-19

Despite the existence of COVID-19 cases around the world, with the help of
medical advances, people have returned to a “new normal”. However, the
aftershocks of the crisis are still a problem to be solved as the COVID pandemic
has significantly set back gender parity by more than three decades.

1. Unequal recovery

In percentage terms, job losses were significantly larger for women.

Additionally, as stated by the United Nations, fewer women than men would
regain employment in the post-pandemic era globally, suggesting that women
recover from the crisis at a slower speed than men do. However, the process of
recovering from the COVID-19 crisis differs in regions, as shown by the gender
gap. Afghanistan, Yemen, and Iraq are the countries with the most massive gender
pay gaps, and gender inequality in these nations is shown in forms other than just
unequal payment. On the other hand, companies in Western Europe are shown to
have neutralized the average wage gap between men and women workers, with
Iceland being reported to be the most gender-equal country.

Nevertheless, the recovery process is generally harder for female workers. Due
to the existing gap created during the pandemic, women who have taken time off
from work or slowed down their career to take care of unpaid work may face
barriers to re-entering the workforce or getting the same level of salary compared
to men, such as lack of opportunities or discrimination based on age or career gaps.
According to the Global Gender Gap Report published at the end of 2022, ever
since the peak of the pandemic, the unemployment rate in women has been

9
significantly higher than in men, as the crisis has reversed progress on gender
parity, shown in the graph below:

Source: International Labour Organization

Overall, the damages on gender equality in the workplace left after the crisis
can not be recovered in short term. While several nations have taken measures to
fasten the process, the harm will remain for a long period.

2. Increasing burnout level

The after-effects of the crisis are not only about regaining jobs, but also about
the work itself. During the pandemic, working females were reported to experience
an increase in work-related stress due to the merged work-life balance and other
impacts of the crisis. After the peak of COVID-19, damages to workers’ mental
health still remain, particularly working women.

A survey published by EU-OSHA (European Agency for Safety and Health at

Work) reveals that workplace stress has been on the rise even after the lockdown,
caused by work overload, time pressure, etc. The remaining damages from the
lockdown period, the need to recover economic growth and the existing gender
inequality has been impacting women’s mentality significantly, hence affecting the
10
work quality and the economy as a whole. That being said, measures need to be
taken to lessen the negative impacts of the COVID-19 crisis.

IV. SOLUTIONS

As stated in the Global Gender Gap Report 2022, the gender gap will not close
for 132 years. As much as this issue affects women, they are not the only ones
suffer from it. Left unaddressed, COVID-19’s impact on women could shrink the
global economy by a trillion dollars by 2030. Therefore, it is essential to take
measures in order to minimized the gender gap in the workplace. This section will
propose some of the possible solutions.

1. Mentoring

It was suggested in a study by Cornell University’s School of Industrial and

Labor Relations that mentoring programs significantly improve the promotion and
retention rates of minority and women workers. It is important to provide a
working environment where women are given opportunities to develop and to
learn, hence benefiting their professional lives.

For example, Amazon Web Services has launched several Mentorships &
Development Programs to reduce the gender gap in the workplace and bring more
women into leading roles. Not only these programs helped encouraging women
employees’ growth and skill building, but they also help women to improve social
networks within the company, hence increasing their opportunities in promotions.

Another example taken place in Vietnam is the EMpower 2022 program, which
provides mentorship, training, and support for Vietnamese Tech-women
entrepreneurs.

2. Strengthening the care infrastructure

11
 The lockdown measure had resulted in childcare facilities being closed or raised
their price, increasing the amount of unpaid work for women, raising concerns of
female workers’ ability to return to the workforce. Therefore, a care system is
needed in order to support not only women employees but working parents in
general.

While a number of top companies offer daycare and even financial assistance
for employees’ children, it is more common for businesses to ignore this problem.
Such ignorance might contribute to widen the gender gap in the workplace in terms
of wage, promotion opportunities and even stress level. Looking at the damages
from the pandemic, it is evident that a care infrastructure is crucial if a company
wants to stand out and improve employee retention. Taking such measures will
help benefit not only women employees but also the economy in general.

3. Minding the financial literacy gap

Gender disparities in the workplace extend to women's ability to build or access

financial resources, with insufficient financial literacy contributing to this issue.
According to the FINRA Foundation's National Financial Capability Study,
Americans in general and women in particular have a low level of financial
knowledge. As stated in the study, only 22% of women managed to answer three
financial literacy questions, comparison to 39% of men. One major reason for this
is that women consistently outperform men in financial literacy indicators such as
the ability to use financial decision-making tools.

Therefore, there is a requirement for the private sector to help improve financial
literacy among working women. For instance, in India, a financial platform for
women named HerMoneyTalks has been launched, offering support in personal
finance and help improving the gender gap of financial literacy. Especially after
lockdown, being independent in financial matters is required for women in order to
12
recover from the crisis. Such measures are needed to help women stay independent
in finance-related decision making, hence contributing to increase females’
opportunities in the workplace after COVID-19 and in the future.

13
 CONCLUSION
Gender inequality has always been an issue in many aspects of life rather
than just in the workplace. After the COVID-19, this issue has been intensified,
significantly affecting the labour force with women being impacted more than
men.

During the crisis, the rise of unpaid work and several other factors caused by
the lockdown measure, has led to rising issues in the workplace. Firstly, women
suffered from a huge pay gap compared to men, which was widen during the crisis.
The impacts of the pandemic also lie in barriers to promotion for women, as a
significant smaller number of female employee reported to have their careers
positively affected during COVID. Additionally, the increase of working pressure
also took place, leaving long-term damages in gender parity.

However, the impacts of the crisis are long-lasting. Unequal recovery

between male and female employees and rising level of work-related stress in
women threatened to damage not only the process of achieving gender equality,
but also the economy in general. Therefore, measures need to be taken. By
providing an environment which supports women’s growth and independence, the
gender gap in the workplace can be reduced.

It can be said that for companies in general and employers in particular,

especially for the young generation in the future, they will have to take further
measures to tackle the issue of gender disparity, as the process of closing the
gender gap is predicted to take no shorter than 100 years. It is essential to change
the working environment and the office norms, little by little, to provide equal
opportunities to workers, regardless of genders, or identities in general.

14
 REFERENCE

1. Glossary of terms and concepts. UNICEF. (n.d.). Retrieved February 10,

2023.
2. Sanna Nivakoski, Ximena Calò, Letizia Mencarini, Paola Profeta (2022).
COVID-19 pandemic and the gender divide at work and home. Eurofound,
Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg. Retrieved
February 10, 2023.
3. Burnout, leadership, and hope: A year-and-a-half into the pandemic,
looking at women in the Workplace. McKinsey & Company. (n.d.).
Retrieved February 10, 2023, from
https://www.mckinsey.com/about-us/new-at-mckinsey-blog/one-year-into-
the-pandemic-what-does-our-women-in-the-workplace-report-say
4. Gender inequality in the workplace: The fight against bias. Gender
Inequality in the Workplace: The Fight Against Bias. (n.d.). Retrieved
February 11, 2023, from https://www.betterup.com/blog/gender-inequality-
in-the-work-place
5. International Labour Organization. (n.d.). Policy Brief - An uneven and
gender-unequal COVID-19 recovery: Update on gender and employment
trends 2021 - . Retrieved February 12, 2023, from
https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/documents/publicati
on/wcms_824865.pdf
6. Thewordsmithm. (2022, March 15). How the pandemic made the pay gap
worse for low-wage workers and women of color. CNBC. Retrieved
February 12, 2023, from https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/15/the-pandemic-
widened-the-pay-gap-for-low-wage-workers-and-women-of-color.html

15
7. Global gender gap report 2022. World Economic Forum. (n.d.). Retrieved
February 13, 2023, from https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-gender-
gap-report-2022/
8. MFoxCNBC. (2020, October 16). Men have been promoted 3 times more
than women during the pandemic, study finds. CNBC. Retrieved February
12, 2023, from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/13/pandemic-fallout-men-
got-3-times-more-promotions-than-women.html
9. Ben Rogers // August 26. (2022, June 24). Not in the same boat: Career
progression in the pandemic. Qualtrics. Retrieved February 13, 2023, from
https://www.qualtrics.com/blog/inequitable-effects-of-pandemic-on-
careers/
10. Randal Joy Thompson. Changing Realities for Women and Work: The
Impact of COVID-19 and Prospects for the Post-Pandemic Workplace.
Retrieved February 14, 2023.
11. Highlights. OSHA. (n.d.). Retrieved February 14, 2023, from
https://osha.europa.eu/en/highlights/new-eu-survey-reveals-workplace-
stress-rise-europe-covid-19
12. 3 ways to reduce gender inequality in the workplace post covid-19. World
Economic Forum. (n.d.). Retrieved February 15, 2023, from
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/01/gender-equality-covid-19-
workplace-davos23/

16