econ dit

Words By Mahya Panahkhahi, Adelaide University Economics Club

2020 was one of the most difficult years we have experienced, with COVID-19 drastically changing the way we live. Lockdowns and social distancing restrictions reduced face-to-face interactions with friends and family. Lectures and tutorials moved online, making studying as difficult as it has ever been. This was paired with the economic and financial uncertainty involved with many people losing their jobs or having their hours of work reduced.

With all the unpredictability that the pandemic brought, in 2020 Australia went into a recession for the first time in nearly three decades. What was particularly distressing about this was the disproportionate impact it had on women, and young women especially. Female-dominated industries like retail, hospitality, and tourism were impacted the most from shutdowns and restrictions, causing many women to lose their jobs, some temporarily and some permanently. Unfortunately, women have not just suffered economically. Their unpaid domestic work has significantly increased. More women are dropping out of university, they have been at higher risk of contracting COVID-19, and domestic violence cases have also increased. Due to these factors, many economists have called the recession caused by COVID-19 a ‘pink recession’ or a ‘she-cession’. “ what was particularly distressing about [the pandemic] was the disproportionate impact it had on women, and young women especially.”

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows that between February and June 2020, around 5.7% of women lost their jobs compared to 4.7% of men. Employment data from the ABS shows shocking numbers for South Australia between March and December 2020, with an increase of 1% in the number of men employed (which is roughly around 7,700 men) compared to a decrease of 1.8% in the number of women employed (around 12,000 women).

There are many possible reasons behind this difference in loss of employment. For instance, female-dominated industries were hit the hardest by COVID-related restrictions. At different points in time, shops, cafes and restaurants were either shut down or had to operate with various restrictions, requiring fewer staff. The tourism industry was also hit hard as travel restrictions were put in place. These circumstances, along with the fact that women are more likely to be employed in part-time and casual positions, has resulted in the impact of COVID-19 having been of greater economic detriment, in general, for women. Casual jobs are more insecure as their

flexible nature gives employers more power in relation to hours and dismissals. In the wake of the pandemic, many casual employees lost their job as they did not qualify for the JobKeeper payment and their employers felt it was not economically viable to keep them. It is clear that many women have been disadvantaged during the pandemic purely because of the types of jobs they hold and the industries that they dominate in.

Not only have women suffered more in terms of employment, but their unpaid domestic work has also significantly increased. This includes things like cooking, cleaning, and taking care of children, the elderly, or ill family members. Whilst spending more time at home has increased the domestic work of both men and women, this increase has been disproportionately greater for women. As you can imagine, in a family where the man has a stable full-time job and the woman has a part-time or casual job, it will almost always be the woman who will have to give up their position to take care of things in their household, when, for example, there are school closures resulting in students having to study from home. Despite this, there has been a notable absence of support for the unpaid work undertaken by women in any stimulus packages introduced by state or federal governments.

Data from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency also suggests that there was a greater decrease in tertiary education enrolments by women than men, which raises concerns about the future. Women should not have to drop out of university because they feel pressured to take care of things at home, or because they feel discouraged about the prospects of being able to find stable, well-paying jobs after they have completed their education. This has unfortunately been a legitimate fear for many young women, particularly after seeing or experiencing the economic repercussions of COVID-19.

Women have been more at risk of contracting COVID-19 due to making up a greater proportion of roles in essential services, particularly health and education. Women’s safety at home also became compromised, with research by the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) showing that 4.6% of women reported having experienced domestic violence between February and May 2020. With people spending more time at home and generally being more stressed and anxious, AIC reported that around 33% of the women they surveyed were experiencing domestic violence for the first time, and half of those with previous experiences of domestic violence reported that it had gotten worse since the pandemic.

What is important to realise, albeit very upsetting, is that there was already a gap in employment, wages, superannuation, and unpaid domestic work between women and men before COVID-19. Issues that were already present pre COVID-19, like a lack of secure employment for women, and adequate precautions and support systems to combat domestic violence, have just been exacerbated by the pandemic. In the words of Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General, ‘gender equality and women’s rights are essential to getting through this pandemic…and to building a better future for everyone’. It is now more important than ever to acknowledge the existence of these issues and attempt to combat them, one step at a time, so that gender equality becomes a reality, not just a dream.