The United Nations (UN) on Wednesday warned the global coronavirus pandemic is likely to widen the poverty gap between women and men, pushing 47 million more women and girls into impoverished lives by next year, reported UN News. It is feared that the pandemic will undo the progress made in recent decades.
According to new UN estimates, the economic fallout and significant job losses caused by COVID-19 will make more women poor than men, with informal workers worst hit in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.
“The increases in women’s extreme poverty…are a stark indictment of deep flaws in the ways we have constructed our societies and economies,” Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the head of UN Women, said in a statement.
The statement said that during the pandemic, women have lost their jobs at a faster rate as compared to men, as they are more likely to be employed in the sectors hardest hit by long lockdowns such as retail, restaurants and hotels.
It added that women are also more likely to work in the informal economy, typically in jobs as domestic workers and cleaners that often come with little or no healthcare, unemployment benefits or other protections.
“We know that women take most of the responsibility for caring for the family; they earn less, save less and hold much less secure jobs,” Mlambo-Ngcuka said.
According to the UN’s International Labour Organization (ILO), about 70 percent of domestic workers globally had lost their jobs by June this year due to COVID-19 pandemic.
As per estimates by UN Women and the UN’s Development Programme (UNDP), the pandemic will push an additional 96 million people into extreme poverty by next year, out of which nearly half will be women and girls.
Achim Steiner, a UNDP administrator, said governments need to adopt measures to help women in low-paid and informal jobs.
