Pandemic will widen major gender gaps

Subject

Gender costs of the pandemic.

Significance

COVID-19 emergency measures such as lockdowns and school closures have placed a disproportionate burden on women. Recovery efforts are becoming gender-sensitive in some, but by no means all, countries.

Impacts

• Women are less likely than men to benefit from remote working options.
• Reproductive health services are likely to be doubly hit by an expected drop in foreign aid post-crisis.
• Civil society pressure will rise for more gender-representative health crisis management at the national and international levels.