EN - Educational (Strategic Plan) - Flipbook - Page 33
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COVID-19
SETBACKS
FOR WOMEN AT
WORK
Study shows decades of gains in
gender equality in South Africa’s
labour market could be derailed
by the pandemic.
This is according to a research paper by the
Southern African Labour and Development
Research Unit (SALDRU) examining
industries adversely affected by the
pandemic, and what impact that may have
for gender equality in the labour market.
COVID-19 and lockdown have both
affected some of the largest employment
industries for women in the country. Four
key sectors employing women were hardest
hit, including the services sector, which
employs about 31% of all women in work.
The research indicates that 66% of
employed women are not classified as
essential services staff, compared with
59% of employed men. And because of
the nature of their jobs, these women
could not work from home, resulting in a
loss of income.
On the other hand, the study reported
that some occupations dominated by
women left up to 16% of them more at risk
of contracting infectious diseases such as
COVID-19. Such jobs included personal care
workers, home-based care workers, doctors,
nurses and pharmacists.
“The implications here for women who
continued to work throughout the hard
lockdown because they were classified as
essential services staff, is that they were –
and still are – more exposed to the virus,”
the researchers said.
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