The report on 2021 global economic situation and prospects from the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs highlighted that the Covid-19 pandemic disproportionately hits women, who see how their jobs and income shrink.

Women account for most of health workers and caregivers, placing them at the forefront of the battle against the pandemic, the report reads.

Many women carry the burden of home care on their shoulders, with dropping out of school and job, so their return to classes and work may take a bit longer or may not happen in the case of many, further increasing inequality in terms of gender, education, income and wealth.

Those 57.8 million women and girls who fell into poverty are a serious blow to poverty reduction efforts worldwide, making income, wealth and education gender gaps worse and also hampering progress in gender equality as forecast in the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

The UN report stated that lockdown and social distancing measures trigger a high loss of jobs in the service sector, which predominantly employs women.

In view of the foregoing, UN strongly believes that the pandemic also revealed the vulnerability caused by informal employment, the main source of work in many countries and which provides less job security, social protection and access to healthcare.

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