{"id":10655,"date":"2021-03-18T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-18T00:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.economicsobservatory.com\/?post_type=question&p=10655"},"modified":"2022-03-07T18:43:07","modified_gmt":"2022-03-07T18:43:07","slug":"how-is-covid-19-affecting-gender-inequality-in-low-income-countries","status":"publish","type":"question","link":"https:\/\/www.economicsobservatory.com\/test\/how-is-covid-19-affecting-gender-inequality-in-low-income-countries","title":{"rendered":"How is Covid-19 affecting gender inequality in low-income countries?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Covid-19 has exacerbated<\/a> the existing inequalities<\/a> between men and women in terms of economic, health and educational outcomes. Examples of the disproportionately negative effects of the crisis on women<\/a> are seen around the world (Alon et al, 2020<\/a>; Adams-Prassl et al, 2020<\/a>). But women in low and middle-income countries have faced specific additional challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, in Sierra Leone, families where the male head of household is absent due to divorce, death or long-distance migration were more vulnerable even before the pandemic. Early on in the crisis, households headed by women were less likely to be well informed about the disease, as a result of weaker access to sources of information and social networks. During the crisis, they experience elevated rates of food insecurity compared with male-headed households, with the gender differences even starker among the poorest families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Policies in response to the pandemic need to take account of such gender disparities both to prevent the compounding of existing inequalities and to protect the women who are most vulnerable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What has been the experience of women in low and middle-income countries?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Globally, 40% of employed women work in services and labour-intensive segments of manufacturing, such as garment production. These sectors have been among the most adversely affected by the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women also constitute a majority of healthcare, social and domestic workers, jobs characterised by limited protections, but also greater risk of infection (International Labour Organization, ILO, 2020<\/a>). They are also more likely than men to reduce their paid working hours or leave their jobs due to the increasing burdens of unpaid work<\/a> \u2013 caring for children and the elderly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such gender disparities are likely to be exacerbated in low and middle-income countries, where gender gaps in social and economic outcomes are greater (Jayachandran, 2015<\/a>). In these countries, the gendered nature of work is typically accompanied by less progressive attitudes towards women working in the labour force (Jayachandran, 2015<\/a>). In addition, a large share of women in developing countries are self-employed, and they may have to divert family money and resources away from their own micro-enterprises during times of crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many women in low and middle-income countries perform most of the household chores and provide care for children. In South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, the share of women in unpaid work is as high as 80-90% (McKinsey, 2020<\/a>). School closures and mobility restrictions during the pandemic have further increased the burden of domestic work and constrained the hours available for compensated work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are limited data available on how the Covid-19 crisis is specifically affecting women. A UN Women Report<\/a> expects the pandemic to deepen gender poverty gaps, especially in already impoverished regions such as sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. To make up for the lack of data on vulnerable populations in low and middle-income countries, researchers are using phone surveys to collect data over time for representative samples (see examples from Bangladesh, Nepal<\/a>, Kenya<\/a> and Sierra Leone<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to economic consequences, women are at increased health risks. The pandemic restricts women\u2019s access to maternal healthcare, as resources are reallocated to Covid-19 patients. This was also the case during the Ebola outbreak of 2014-16, when the increased burden on the healthcare system reduced access to family planning and maternal health services, thus increasing the chances of maternal mortality. Women\u2019s role as caregivers at home and in health clinics also makes them more vulnerable to infection (Menendez et al, 2015<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Girls\u2019 access to education can also be affected by such crises. A study investigating the impact of school closures as a result of the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone found younger girls staying out of school more (Bandiera et al, 2018<\/a>). The girls also found it harder to re-enrol after schools re-opened, instead taking up work. Adolescent girls ended up spending more time with men, resulting in higher likelihood of pregnancies, especially out of wedlock. The disruptions to the healthcare system due to the Ebola crisis increased the dangers to these young women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lockdown and quarantine measures make women more likely to be victims of domestic violence<\/a> (Taub, 2020<\/a>; Peterman et al, 2020<\/a>). One study finds that the increased economic dependence of women and reduced access to external support is causing the surge in domestic violence in many countries during the pandemic (Mittal and Singh, 2020<\/a>). The Kenya Covid Tracker<\/a> records self-reported data on the incidence of gender-based violence during Covid-19. While threats of violence and fights between household members increased initially during the lockdown, actual violence by partners did not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early on in the pandemic, households headed by women were more likely to have skipped a meal than male-headed households, according to high frequency phone survey data from Kenya<\/a>. As examined in more detail below, this was also the case in Sierra Leone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What has been the experience of households headed by women in Sierra Leone?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sierra Leone represents a unique case for assessing the gendered impacts of Covid-19. Around one-third of households are headed by women \u2013 these are families where the male head of household is absent due, for example, to divorce, death or long-distance migration. The country ranks very low on the gender inequality index (which means it has high levels of inequality) and records high rates of maternal mortality and violence against women. During the Ebola crisis, an overwhelmed healthcare system affected pregnant women acutely, resulting in many maternal deaths<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research using data from a large sample of representative households in Sierra Leone finds that households headed by women were more vulnerable than their male-headed equivalents even before the Covid-19 crisis hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, as a result of accessing different sources of information and engaging with different social networks, households headed by women were less well informed about the disease early on in the crisis. On average, they are less likely to know about common Covid-19 symptoms, such as coughing, fever, difficulty breathing and loss of smell. They are also less able to adhere to public health guidelines, such as mask wearing, because they are less likely to own one, and are less likely to keep social distance \u2013 see Figure 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Figure 1: Differences between households headed by men and women on public health measures<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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