Gendered Impacts of COVID-19 in Developing Countries

Arbeitspapier

In many high-income economies, the recession caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented declines in women's employment. We examine how the forces that underlie this observation play out in developing countries, with a specific focus on Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa. A force affecting high- and low-income countries alike are increased childcare needs during school closures; in Nigeria, mothers of school-age children experience the largest declines in employment during the pandemic, just as in high-income countries. A key difference is the role of the sectoral distribution of employment: whereas in high-income economies reduced employment in contact-intensive services had a large impact on women, this sector plays a minor role in low-income countries. Another difference is that women's employment rebounded much more quickly in low-income countries. We conjecture that large income losses without offsetting government transfers drive up labor supply in low-income countries during the recovery.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 15013

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Business Fluctuations; Cycles ; Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination ; Demand and Supply of Labor: General ; Economic Development: General
• Subject: COVID-19 ; pandemics ; women's labor supply ; gender equality

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Alon, Titan ; Doepke, Matthias ; Manysheva, Kristina ; Tertilt, Michèle
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2022

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/250674
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET