t’s no secret that the pandemic has placed significant hurdles in the way of women throughout the global job market by increasing unpaid domestic care burdens, exposing failures in social safety systems, and widening the gender poverty gap. According to the McKinsey Institute, 4.5% of women’s global employment is at risk compared to 3.8% of men’s employment. Women are losing jobs at a faster rate than men. Women are also at higher risk of infection, being dragged back into outdated gender roles and facing a steeper climb to equity than in the years before.
The effects of COVID-19 are essential context to the fight for equality and will reverberate through a generation. However, focusing solely on the pandemic risks obscuring the pre-existing fundamentals of the global job market which illustrate that women are making major gains.
Women outnumber men in higher education globally, with women comprising more than 55% of post-secondary graduates in 39 of 47 countries studied by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. While gendered major choices persist, they are gradually declining between generations. One study from the University of Chicago found that among Baby Boomers born between 1950-1954, one in 20 engineering students was female. Today, the gap is down to one in five female engineering students.
Women comprise over 70% of health and social care workers globally, and are more likely to be frontline healthcare workers, a 2020 United Nations report found. Death care — a traditionally male-dominated field — has in the last decade experienced fast changes as over 65% of US funeral care graduates are now women. This trend has also been mirrored in other nations such as South Korea as gendered taboos fade.
An International Labour Organization report found that among desk-bound professions — including legal, cultural and social professions, business, administration and sales, hospitality, and craft work — there is near gender parity.
Every major report on women in the workplace finds that gender inequality worsens at higher levels, with women representing only a quarter of the world’s leadership roles. Amid the pandemic, many companies have also reverted to male executive hires.
In terms of global governance, women are currently on track to reach gender parity in ministerial positions in 2077, and in political and leadership power in 130 years, according to a report from UN Women. The report also found that as women gain leadership roles, national political efficacy improves.
Female leadership in business has also been proven to improve long-term performance, according to the World Economic Forum, demonstrating that a more feminine future is beneficial to everyone.
A post-pandemic opportunity to build an equitable economy
Pushing for women’s excellence in the workforce will always be less efficient than valuing the essential work women already do.
Unpaid women’s work is estimated to comprise between 10% and 39% of global gross domestic product, which is more than the transportation or manufacturing industries. Women are also more likely to work in the informal economy, where the average female worker makes only 47% of what the average informal male worker makes.
COVID-19 exposed how women’s work is systemically devalued, but it presents policy roadmaps and popular momentum to build a more equitable economy for the future. More than 100 nations have passed COVID economic stimulus bills and over 90 have taken loans from the IMF, and direct stimulus checks, cash infusions to the global poor, food assistance and other immediate stabilization measures have become normalized.
As less means-tested welfare gains political force, women and other underrepresented groups stand to reap the benefits. Stimulus bills have enjoyed broad popularity thus far, and universal basic income has seen a surge in support from both the World Economic Forum and the average person, according to the Pew Research Institute. Long-term economic stimulus presents opportunities to strengthen social welfare permanently and diminish poverty gaps, if political incentives and popularity endure beyond the virus.
Beyond stimulus, women also stand to benefit from ongoing economic transformation.
The structural transformation of the global economy from traditionally male-dominated goods-based production to modern service-based transactions have boosted the demand for female workers. The expansion of home-based production, from child care to food preparation, have also given women jobs and given them the opportunity to enter the labor force and get jobs.
The Global Gender Gap Report 2020 estimates that gender equity is 100 years away. The report also suggests that timeline can be accelerated by increasing women’s leadership, changing social and legislative attitudes towards unpaid domestic work, and providing women with the skills to succeed in the world of future jobs. While these changes come far too late and the future is fought for in every moment, a 2120 with gender parity is a heartening probability.
a global affairs media network
Gender Equity is Closer Than You think
March 8, 2021
While the pandemic has set back gender equity in the work force, pre-existing momentum and opportunities arising from pandemic policy response offer hope for the future.
I
t’s no secret that the pandemic has placed significant hurdles in the way of women throughout the global job market by increasing unpaid domestic care burdens, exposing failures in social safety systems, and widening the gender poverty gap. According to the McKinsey Institute, 4.5% of women’s global employment is at risk compared to 3.8% of men’s employment. Women are losing jobs at a faster rate than men. Women are also at higher risk of infection, being dragged back into outdated gender roles and facing a steeper climb to equity than in the years before.
The effects of COVID-19 are essential context to the fight for equality and will reverberate through a generation. However, focusing solely on the pandemic risks obscuring the pre-existing fundamentals of the global job market which illustrate that women are making major gains.
Women outnumber men in higher education globally, with women comprising more than 55% of post-secondary graduates in 39 of 47 countries studied by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. While gendered major choices persist, they are gradually declining between generations. One study from the University of Chicago found that among Baby Boomers born between 1950-1954, one in 20 engineering students was female. Today, the gap is down to one in five female engineering students.
Women comprise over 70% of health and social care workers globally, and are more likely to be frontline healthcare workers, a 2020 United Nations report found. Death care — a traditionally male-dominated field — has in the last decade experienced fast changes as over 65% of US funeral care graduates are now women. This trend has also been mirrored in other nations such as South Korea as gendered taboos fade.
An International Labour Organization report found that among desk-bound professions — including legal, cultural and social professions, business, administration and sales, hospitality, and craft work — there is near gender parity.
Every major report on women in the workplace finds that gender inequality worsens at higher levels, with women representing only a quarter of the world’s leadership roles. Amid the pandemic, many companies have also reverted to male executive hires.
In terms of global governance, women are currently on track to reach gender parity in ministerial positions in 2077, and in political and leadership power in 130 years, according to a report from UN Women. The report also found that as women gain leadership roles, national political efficacy improves.
Female leadership in business has also been proven to improve long-term performance, according to the World Economic Forum, demonstrating that a more feminine future is beneficial to everyone.
A post-pandemic opportunity to build an equitable economy
Pushing for women’s excellence in the workforce will always be less efficient than valuing the essential work women already do.
Unpaid women’s work is estimated to comprise between 10% and 39% of global gross domestic product, which is more than the transportation or manufacturing industries. Women are also more likely to work in the informal economy, where the average female worker makes only 47% of what the average informal male worker makes.
COVID-19 exposed how women’s work is systemically devalued, but it presents policy roadmaps and popular momentum to build a more equitable economy for the future. More than 100 nations have passed COVID economic stimulus bills and over 90 have taken loans from the IMF, and direct stimulus checks, cash infusions to the global poor, food assistance and other immediate stabilization measures have become normalized.
As less means-tested welfare gains political force, women and other underrepresented groups stand to reap the benefits. Stimulus bills have enjoyed broad popularity thus far, and universal basic income has seen a surge in support from both the World Economic Forum and the average person, according to the Pew Research Institute. Long-term economic stimulus presents opportunities to strengthen social welfare permanently and diminish poverty gaps, if political incentives and popularity endure beyond the virus.
Beyond stimulus, women also stand to benefit from ongoing economic transformation.
The structural transformation of the global economy from traditionally male-dominated goods-based production to modern service-based transactions have boosted the demand for female workers. The expansion of home-based production, from child care to food preparation, have also given women jobs and given them the opportunity to enter the labor force and get jobs.
The Global Gender Gap Report 2020 estimates that gender equity is 100 years away. The report also suggests that timeline can be accelerated by increasing women’s leadership, changing social and legislative attitudes towards unpaid domestic work, and providing women with the skills to succeed in the world of future jobs. While these changes come far too late and the future is fought for in every moment, a 2120 with gender parity is a heartening probability.
