The Impact of COVID-19 on Gender Equality

By T. Alon, Matthias Doepke, Jane Olmstead-Rumsey, Michèle Tertilt. 2020

1,469 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The economic downturn caused by the current COVID-19 outbreak has substantial implications for gender equality, both during the downturn and the subsequent recovery. Compared to “regular” recessions, which affect men’s employment more severely than women’s employment, the employment drop related to social distancing measures has a large impact on sectors with high female employment shares. In addition, closures of schools and daycare centers have massively increased child care needs, which has a particularly large impact on working mothers. The effects of the crisis on working mothers are likely to be persistent, due to high returns to experience in the labor market. Beyond the immediate crisis, there are opposing forces which may ultimately promote gender equality in the labor market. First, businesses are rapidly adopting flexible work arrangements, which are likely to persist. Second, there are also many fathers who now have to take primary responsibility for child care, which may erode social norms that currently lead to a lopsided distribution of the division of labor in house work and child care.

Subfields: General Health Professions

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/cea233eab0b843560de96c11e259fdec41c51d9c

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In General Health Professions

Citations in the corpus

Heterogeneous Labor Market Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020, result): “Recessions often are worse for men; however, we have found substantially larger impacts on women, consistent with what Alon et al. (2020) hypothesized. Although the main driver in employment changes are exit rates, we do see that the decrease in youth hiring is at least four times that of older work”
Women’s and men’s work, housework and childcare, before and during COVID-19 (2020, background): “As reported in very recent studies (Hupkau and Petrongolo 2020; Alon et al. 2020), the current recession is instead likely to have a similar impact on male and female employment, since the social measures taken have affected sectors where both genders are employed (ILO 2020).”
The virus changed everything, didn’t it? Couples’ division of housework and childcare before and during the Corona crisis (2020, background): “We thereby contribute to the discussion about the potential impact of COVID-19 on gender (in)equality (e.g., Alon et al. 2020; Kohlrausch & Zucco 2020), responding to concerns that the virological pandemic might have triggered a ‘patriarchal pandemic’ (Chemaly 2020; also see Allmendinger 2020).”
Why Working from Home Will Stick (2020, methodology): “…WFH affects housing demand (Stanton and Tiwari, 2021), housing prices and rents (Ramani and Bloom, 2021), the division of labor within households (Alon et al. 2020a, and Del Boca et al. 2020), and residential electricity consumption (Cicala, 2020) – an incomplete list. a. WFH benefits will flow…”
Women's Work, Housework and Childcare, Before and During Covid-19 (2020, background): “As reported in very recent studies (Hupkau and Petrongolo, 2020, Alon et al., 2020), the current recession is instead likely to have a similar impact on male and female employment, since the social measures taken have affected sectors where both genders are employed (ILO, 2020).”
Gender inequality during the COVID-19 pandemic: Income, expenditure, savings, and job loss (2020, background): “Yet, Alon et al. (2020) argue that the COVID-19 pandemic differs from a typical economic recession since it can more strongly affect sectors with high female employment shares.”
The gender gap in mental well-being during the Covid-19 outbreak: evidence from the UK (2020, background): “Alon et al. (2020) discuss that the closure of schools and daycare facilities is likely to affect women more than men and that these effects are likely to be stronger than effects relating to employment. For the UK, Andrew et al. (2020) show that mothers in households with two opposite-gender parent”
Changes in employment and relationship satisfaction in times of the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from the German family Panel (2020, background): “An important aspect in discussions about the social consequences of this crisis relates to its potential impact on gender inequalities in families and, consequently, society as a whole (e.g. Alon et al. 2020; Settersten et al. 2020; see also Czymara et al. 2020).”
Who suffers from the COVID-19 shocks? Labor market heterogeneity and welfare consequences in Japan (2020, background): “where female workers were hit harder by the COVID-19 shocks than male workers, as emphasized by Alon et al. (2020).”
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the care burden of women and families (2020, background): “This trend could help to push social norms toward more equality in raising children, domestic work, and gender norms more generally (Alon et al. 2020).”
From Mancession to Shecession: Women’s Employment in Regular and Pandemic Recessions (2021, background): “At the onset of the crisis, Alon et al. (2020a) predicted that beyond its cause and magnitude, a key difference between the pandemic recession and others that preceded it would lie in its impact on women’s employment.”
Lost in lockdown? COVID-19, social distancing, and mental health in Germany (2020, background): “We further add to the fast growing literature analyzing the social (see, e.g. Brodeur et al. 2020; Knipe et al. 2020; Brülhart and Lalive 2020) and economic impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak (see, e.g. Alon et al. 2020).”
Consumer Spending Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Assessment of Great Britain (2020, background): “For the US, Albuquerque et al (2020) compare the returns of firms with higher environmental and social (ES) ratings compared to other firms.”
Suffering in silence: How COVID-19 school closures inhibit the reporting of child maltreatment (2020, background): “, 2020), internet access (Chiou and Tucker, 2020), and gender (Alon et al., 2020).”