Unequal burden: how the COVID-19 pandemic is adding to women’s workloads

This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum.

Author: Alex Thornton, Senior Writer, Formative Content

• COVID-19 restrictions mean both men and women spend longer doing jobs around the home.
• Women have seen a larger increase in unpaid work than men.
• Evidence shows that COVID-19 is reinforcing traditional social and cultural gender norms.
• A new report for UN Women analyses data from 38 countries around the world.

The COVID-19 pandemic, and the economic downturn it has caused, have hit everyone hard. But the impact has not been spread equally. A new report by UN Women has found clear evidence that, although both genders have seen their unpaid workloads increase, women are bearing more of the burden than men.

Even before the pandemic, women…