The pandemic is hitting women harder

COVID-19 cost the world's women 64 million jobs and $800 billion in lost income in 2020.

"I am already in debt. There is no way for me to buy even a kilo of rice. The help I receive here allows me to survive for a month. I don't know what I would have done if I didn't receive this support."

Shahida Akter Lucky, domestic worker in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Fabeha Monir / Oxfam

64 million women lost their jobs last year. That's a 5% loss, compared to 3.9% for men. Another 47 million women worldwide are expected to fall into extreme poverty, living on less than $1.9 a day by 2021.

"The economic impact of COVID-19 is extremely hard on women who are globally overrepresented in low-paid, precarious jobs in the industries most affected by the pandemic," said Gabriela Bucher, Secretary General of Oxfam International.

This is a conservative estimate and does not include the lost income of the millions of women worldwide who work in the informal economy - domestic workers, market vendors and workers in the textile industry.

Unpaid domestic and care work

Across the world, women have been more likely to stop working or reduce their hours during the pandemic, largely due to the care responsibilities that often fall on women. Even before the pandemic, women and girls worldwide spent 12.5 billion hours a day on unpaid domestic and care work.

"Unpaid domestic and care work has exploded and the responsibility for shouldering the increased care needs during the pandemic has fallen mainly on women," says Gabriela Bucher.