Social and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic threaten to reverse progress towards gender equality: study

Medical Xpress March 3, 2022
Lancet

As COVID-19 has caused major disruptions in all aspects of life, women have experienced negative social and economic impacts to a greater extent than men, according to new research.

In a new study, published in The Lancet, women reported higher rates of employment loss (26% of women compared to 20% of men), school dropouts (women 1.21 times more likely to leave education than men), and perception of gender-based violence increase (women 1.23 times more likely to report an increase than men) by September 2021 compared to men, as an indirect result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As research on previous public health and economic crises has shown, the socio-economic effects on women often persist long after the initial disruption. The authors...