Women are overrepresented in industries that have been most hard hit by COVID-19 as the impact of the pandemic on the economy laid many inequalities in Namibian society, economist Ruusa Nandago said.
Nandago in a media statement on Monday said due to the impact of the pandemic, women’s status in the labour market makes them more susceptible for several reasons.
“Firstly, women are overrepresented in industries that have been most hard hit by COVID-19. Most noteworthy is the accommodation and food sector, where women make up 77 per cent of the share of employment in Namibia. This sector was severely affected by the impact of lockdowns, travel restrictions and other regulations needed to slow the spread of the virus, resulting in retrenchments, wage cuts and reduced working hours. The sector continues to contend with knock-on effects on tourism from recurring waves both domestically, regionally and globally,” she said.
She added that women are also more likely to be employed in the informal sector and the sector is particularly vulnerable as workers are unable to take off from work without losing income and women bear a disproportionate burden of unpaid care and domestic work in the home which has increased during the pandemic.
“They tend to do the lion’s share of homeschooling, caring for sick family members, cooking and cleaning in addition to doing their full-time jobs. This increases what is often called ‘time poverty’, a phenomenon where women have little to no discretionary time. The lesson learnt from the ongoing pandemic is that the gendered impacts of COVID-19 cannot be ignored as they threaten to derail the progress made towards achieving gender equality,” she said.
Moving forward, women’s status in the labour force and economy, in general, must be elevated. This can be achieved through changing attitudes around gender roles, improving the availability of child-care facilities, widening social safety nets and implementing policies that allow women to participate in the formal economy, added Nandago.
Source: Namibia Press Agency
