On March 8th the International Women's Day was celebrated all over the world. Even though the sustainability goal of gender equality gradually improved in the western working civilization it took a step back during this last year, influenced by the pandemic.
Typically, during a financial crisis, women lose fewer jobs than man, because they occupy the majority of jobs, that are resilient during a recession, like education and healthcare. But during Covid-19 more women lost their jobs. Women make up 77% of workforce in sectors that need personal contact to customers in the US and cannot easily be carried on remotely. A big factor that led to a slightly disproportionate unemployment for women in the US, are the traditional gender roles. Women were often the first ones to consider when downshifting their careers due to children, for example helping the children with homework and online classes.
Even though the pandemic apparently damaged a lot of progress made towards gender equality the last years were not only negative. In 2020 there were more female CEOs running Fortune 500 companies than ever before (still only 41). Especially in the banking and retailing sector, more women are promoted and recruited into leadership roles.
In Germany the adjusted Gender Pay Gap (Calculation takes into consideration structural factors) still lies at 6%, which means that a woman with comparable qualifications to a man qualification gets 6% less per hour for similar activities. All in all it is important to create awareness for this topic in order to improve gender equality in the future.
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