BELIZE CITY, Fri. Mar. 5, 2021– Ten months of the pandemic have seemingly wiped out ten years of progress for women in the workforce. Due to the crisis, millions of women have left, or have been removed, from the workforce, and gender gaps in the labour markets have become more glaring. The participation of women in the workforce in the region is now at the lowest point that it has been in a decade — with recent advances in gender parity in the workplace having seemingly been erased.

International Labour Organization (ILO) Director, Vinicius Pinheiro, says, “Recovery from the crisis at work must remove the amplification of inequalities caused by COVID-19, if we want to achieve sustainable economic growth with productive and quality jobs. On this International Women’s Day it is crucial to reaffirm the commitment to recover the ground lost during the economic and social debacle in our countries.”

Statistics show that in 2020 women’s participation in the workforce steeply declined by 10.3 per cent, which lowered their overall regional involvement to 46.4 per cent. This marked decrease means that nearly 12 million women exited the regional workforce as a result of the pandemic.

Women have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic due to the roles and responsibilities typically assigned to them within their families. Household tasks and caring for children and the elderly are often perceived as duties to be carried out by women in today’s society. The new needs within the home — for the instruction of children who are not in the classrooms and for the provision of care to those who are sick — have largely fallen on the shoulders of women, who have had to juggle these responsibilities along with their duties in the workplace. Many had to leave the workforce to handle the tasks at home.

ILO Regional Employment Specialist, Roxana Maurizio said, “The pandemic, on the one hand, highlighted the vital importance of these tasks. On the other hand, it further exacerbated tensions regarding the reconciliation between labour market work and family responsibilities. To all this must be added the increase in teleworking and work at home in a context of closure or suspension of care spaces associated with confinement and physical distancing measures.”

Women also comprised a large part of the workforce in the service sector — particularly hospitality services (restaurants and hotels), which were the sectors most impacted by the downturn in economic activity due to the virus, so they were disproportionately affected by the loss of jobs due to the slowdown in the sector. A large number of women also were informally employed — providing services such as housekeeping and babysitting, and many of these informal jobs were wiped out as well during the pandemic.

Mauricio said that measures must be taken to address this crisis and ensure the social and economic empowerment of young women. “Policies that include women are not only required, but policies for the recovery of employment and labour markets that, from their design and implementation, have a gender perspective so as not to reproduce the difficulties they face in inserting themselves and staying in the labour market,” commented Maurizio.

In addition, vocational training can play a huge role in increasing participation of women in
occupations that are not traditionally viewed as female activities. Also, it is important to create training regimes for women with low education who have been impacted by the effects of COVID-19. This will help to close the gaps between men and women.

Maurizio said, “It is necessary to underpin, even more strongly than before, a process that ensures women greater opportunities for quality employment, training and access to new technologies, reduction of gaps and full compliance with labour rights.”