Gender and Unemployment During Pandemic

According to the analysis, the first sectors affected by the pandemic are those where the female workforce predominantly serves. For this reason, in the first periods when the virus started to spread, the female unemployment rate was higher. Global value chains, which deteriorated as the pandemic increased due to the higher tendency of male workforce to work in international trade sectors, increased the negative effects on male employment. International merchandise trade volume decreased by 16% in the second quarter of 2020 compared to the same period of 2019 and  by August, there was an increase in the male unemployment rate. On the other hand, in countries where the rate of the spread of the virus is beginning to slow, governments have started to ease the quarantine by allowing people, especially women in the service sector, to return to their jobs. However, women's participation in the labor force is still very low.

In addition to the increase in unemployment, women's participation in the labor market decreased during the pandemic process. The data reveal that in 2020, the rate of women leaving the labor market is higher. The significant decline in the number of women actively seeking work seems to have reversed all efforts made to empower women over the decades. In this context, it is also important to analyze the labor force participation in order to make an accurate assessment.

In addition to the strong relationship between the prevalence of the pandemic and the decline in female labor force participation, it was found that women's working hours also dropped significantly in 2020. The main source of the decline in working hours is the global contraction in tourism and the share of female workers in the tourism sector is high. Globally, tourism suffered an estimated $ 1.3 trillion loss in export revenues, and up to 120 million tourism businesses were reported to be directly at risk and this figure is 11 times higher than the 2009 global economic crisis.

From the perspective of women's empowerment, it is worrisome that in economies in general, more women have left the labor force than men. In this respect, comparable and detailed statistics are required in order to develop effective intervention measures and policies and to fully reveal the socioeconomic effects of the pandemic on women and also men.

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