PERC Women School
Women at the frontline during the pandemic - challenges and way forward
A PERC Women School brought together more than seventy women trade unionists from different workers’ organizations in Europe and Central Asia. Emanuela Pozzan, Senior Specialist on Gender Equality and Non-Discrimination at ILO, joined a roundtable debate on the gender aspects of the ongoing health and socio-economic crisis.
She discussed the ILO Brief on gender equality and the response to COVID-19, including which measures countries have taken during the first wave of the pandemic to address the immediate needs of different categories of women workers.
Globally, 527 million women work in accommodation and food services; real estate, business and administrative activities; manufacturing and wholesale/retail trade. The ILO has rated these sectors as being at a high risk of severe COVID-19 impact in terms of job losses and a decline in working hours.
Many women work in precarious contracts. The pandemic has especially affected the 740 million women workers in the informal economy.
“Women are overly represented in particular sectors in the informal economy,” said Ms Pozzan. “It is unlikely that these workers are protected by social protection or recovery schemes.”
Care workers have taken a heavy burden. The crisis has shown the importance of the work of women involved in these services. Globally, 96 million women work in the healthcare sector. In many countries, they represent 70% of the total healthcare workforce. Often, their working conditions are poor.
The care pay penalty - the difference in hourly wages between workers in non-care sectors and workers in care sectors that cannot be attributed to differences in skills, experience or credentials - is more pronounced for women, in particular in the occupations in which they predominate, such as nursing.
“Lower pay also undermines the capacity of care workers to obtain care for their family members, thus adding to their overall care responsibilities,” explained Ms Pozzan.
The crisis has increased unpaid care work, due to the closure of schools, the suspension of domestic work, the need to look after family members with COVID, etc. Two thirds of this work is performed by women.
Globally, today, less than 10% of heads of state and governments are women. Getting gender equality right in the response to COVID-19 is extremely important.
“Societies can no longer afford not to have gender equal economic orders. We need national budgets that respond better to women’s needs and priorities, and we need more women to lead the way,” she concluded.
The PERC Women School was organized by ITUC, the International Trade Union Confederation, with the financial support from the Belgian Federal Public Service for Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue, in collaboration with Belgian trade union CGSLB-ACLVB.
She discussed the ILO Brief on gender equality and the response to COVID-19, including which measures countries have taken during the first wave of the pandemic to address the immediate needs of different categories of women workers.
Globally, 527 million women work in accommodation and food services; real estate, business and administrative activities; manufacturing and wholesale/retail trade. The ILO has rated these sectors as being at a high risk of severe COVID-19 impact in terms of job losses and a decline in working hours.
Many women work in precarious contracts. The pandemic has especially affected the 740 million women workers in the informal economy.
“Women are overly represented in particular sectors in the informal economy,” said Ms Pozzan. “It is unlikely that these workers are protected by social protection or recovery schemes.”
Care workers have taken a heavy burden. The crisis has shown the importance of the work of women involved in these services. Globally, 96 million women work in the healthcare sector. In many countries, they represent 70% of the total healthcare workforce. Often, their working conditions are poor.
The care pay penalty - the difference in hourly wages between workers in non-care sectors and workers in care sectors that cannot be attributed to differences in skills, experience or credentials - is more pronounced for women, in particular in the occupations in which they predominate, such as nursing.
“Lower pay also undermines the capacity of care workers to obtain care for their family members, thus adding to their overall care responsibilities,” explained Ms Pozzan.
The crisis has increased unpaid care work, due to the closure of schools, the suspension of domestic work, the need to look after family members with COVID, etc. Two thirds of this work is performed by women.
Globally, today, less than 10% of heads of state and governments are women. Getting gender equality right in the response to COVID-19 is extremely important.
“Societies can no longer afford not to have gender equal economic orders. We need national budgets that respond better to women’s needs and priorities, and we need more women to lead the way,” she concluded.
The PERC Women School was organized by ITUC, the International Trade Union Confederation, with the financial support from the Belgian Federal Public Service for Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue, in collaboration with Belgian trade union CGSLB-ACLVB.