Introduction

• Author: Eleni Papadimitriou - Zsuzsa Blaskó
• Pages: 6-6

6

1Introduction

The COVID-19 crisis is having a dramatic impact on the world’s workforce. Thela bou r

m arket di srupt ion s caused b y t he p andem ic af fect all; howe ver, th e r educ tio n i n e cono mic

activityis u neve n in di ffer ent eco nom ic se cto rs, re gion s of t he wor ld and gr oup s of pe ople.

Several studies and articles have warned about the disproportionatesocial and

econ omi c im pac t t his crisi s can ha ve on w ome n1suggestingt hat itth reat ens t oslow

downthe paceof move t owar ds gender equalityor evenundo some of the gains. Th e

conc erns are man ifol d, one i mp ort ant asp ect bei ng th at COVID -19is li kel y to hea vil yaffect

women workers, as a large proport ion ofthem are basedin sectors severely affected by

th e pandem ic.

This not e pr ovid es a f irst de ta iled a sse ssm en t o f th is cla im lo ok ing at t h e 2 7 EU Member

States. It isusin g an d com paringt wo different sect oral classificat ions, bot h based on the

economi c sect ors’ v ulner abili ty to th e COVI D-19 cr isis: one published by the In tern ation al

Labou r Or ganizat ion (ILO)an d t he o ther one by th e Eur opean Centre for the Deve lopm ent

of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP). Although using different m ethods, both classifications

aim at assessin g the economic sect ors’ exposure to t he crisis from the per spective of the

economi c – rather than health- relat ed – risks, which will ultimatelyalso aff ect the work

force employe d in t hegi ven sector .

Our aim is n either to evalu ate these two classif icat ions nor t o t ry t o un derstand th e root s

of their diverging conclusions. Instead we aim at applying both available t ools for a w ell-

informedassessm ent of th e issue of gender imbal ances i n the econom ic ef fects of COVID-

19in the EU. Undoubtedly, making this assessmentat the sectoral levelhassevera l

limitations that arise from the high level of aggregation and the heterogeneity of jobs

carried outwithin one economic sect or.One of the importantconsequences is that even

within economic sectors classified asecono micall y h igh-risk, large groups of workers ar e

fou nd whose activity was considered to be critical (or essential) during the pandemic. As

in som e of these gr oups – e. g. am ong sal esperson s in super mar kets in t he W holesale an d

ret ail tr ade sector – there is a high concen trat ion of women2, theaverage unem ployment

risk in certain sectors might be lower for fem ales than for males.At the sam e time t her e

can also be other factors unevenly affecting male and female workers within the same

sect or, and this approach can not accou nt for these.

The rest of this note is structured as follows.Starting with the analysis of ILO, we first

pr esent theirclassification. Second ,we link it to t he gen der-di str ibution of work ers acr oss

the economic sectors inthe EU to calculatethe share of employed men and women

pot enti ally affected by th e crisis according t o the I LO appr oach. Then w e repeat t he sam e

exercise applying the classification of CEDEFOP. We conclude by comparing the t wo sets

of r esult s.

1See e.g. Alon, T., Doepke , M., Olm stead-Rum sey, J., & Tert ilt, M. ( 202 0).The Im pact of COVI D-19 on Gender

Equalitya nd Bl askó, Z., Papa dimi trio u, E. , Man ca, A. R., Europ ean Com mi ssion, Joint Resear ch Cen tre. (2 020) .

How wil l th e COVI D-19 crisi s aff ect exist ing gen der divi des i n Eur ope?

2EUROSTAT r epor ts t hat in 20 19,w ome n represented63p er cen tof th e w orke rs i n r etai l sal e of foo d, beve rag es

and to bacco (ht t ps: / / e c.e uro pa .eu / eur os tat / w eb / pr odu cts -eurostat-ne ws/ -/ DD N-20200522-2)