Throughout the Asian region, women have withstood the worst of COVID-19’s economic and social consequences.
Economically, the nature of work remains gender-skewed, with women disproportionately represented in sectors negatively affected by the COVID-19 crisis – hospitality (food and accommodation) services and retail, especially. Women-led micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises are bearing the brunt of the economic downturn from COVID-19, compounded by more limited access to financing and capital.
Research from the non-profit organisation Women in Informal Employment: Globalising and Organising (WIEGO) showed “a grim global picture of workers reporting they were completely out of work, with zero earnings at the height of their cities’ lockdowns”.