The progress made for women in work is likely to return to 2017 levels by the end of 2021, as a result of pandemic of COVID-19.
This is the conclusion from an analysis of PwC's annual Women in Work Index for 2021, which assesses women's economic empowerment in 33 countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
For nine years, OECD countries have made steady progress in women's economic empowerment. However, due to COVID-19, this trend is now reversing, with an estimated decline of 2.1% between 2019 and 2021, according to PwC's analysis. The index appears to show signs of recovery in 2022, estimated at 0,8 points.
To repair - at least by 2030 - the damage done to women at work by the COVID-19 pandemic, progress towards gender equality will need to be achieved twice as fast as it has been so far.
Between 2019 and 2020, the annual percentage unemployment in the countries of OECD, increased by 1.7% for women (from 5.7% in 2019 to 7.4% in 2020). USA, the female unemployment rate rose sharply from 4% in March 2020 to 16% in April 2020, and remained high for the rest of 2020, with the year ending December 2020 at 6.7%, up 3 percentage points compared to December 2019.
In United Kingdom (UK), the full impact of COVID-19 job losses due to job retention programmes is not yet clear, but the suspension data suggest that women are at greater risk of losing their jobs when these programmes end. Between July and October 2020, 15.3 million jobs in the UK were put on contract suspension. Among the suspended positions where gender was known, 52% were held by women, despite women making up just 48% of the workforce.
Before the advent of COVID-19, women worked on average six hours more than men in unpaid childcare each week (according to the UN Women survey). During the pandemic, women have taken on an even larger share and now work 7.7 more hours per week in unpaid childcare than men - this «second shift» equates to 31.5 hours per week, almost as much as an extra full-time job.
This increase in unpaid work has already reduced women's contribution to the economy. If this extra burden continues, it will lead to more women permanently exiting the labour market, reversing progress towards gender equality and reducing the productivity of the economy.
While some women may choose to leave the workforce temporarily due to COVID-19, with the intention of returning after the pandemic, research shows that career breaks have a long-term impact on women's prospects in the labour market, and that women will return to lower-paid and lower-skilled positions.
It is noted that Greece recorded the largest increase in the index between 2018 and 2019, thanks to the improvement of all labour market indicators, except for the share of full-time female employees.
In contrast, Portugal saw the largest decrease in the index between 2018 and 2019 due to the widening of the gender pay gap by 5%.
Iceland continues to hold the top spot in the Index among OECD countries. It shows a consistently strong performance in female labour force participation (84%), has a low participation rate gap (5%) and an even lower female unemployment rate (3%).
New Zealand and Slovenia moved up one place in the index ranking. New Zealand recorded an upward trend in all five indices, having climbed five places in the Index over nine years. Government policies and a history of female representation in political institutions have contributed significantly to these improvements. In Slovenia, the improvement has involved a fall in the participation rate gap and in female unemployment, as well as an increase in the full-time employment rate of women.
If OECD countries succeeded in raising the female employment rate to the level of Sweden (which is consistently at the top), GDP growth would exceed $6 trillion a year. The US, with one of the highest female unemployment rates, would be expected to gain the most - up to $1.7 trillion a year.
