Workplace gender gap worsens as ‘she-cession’ bites
Study finds women worked fewer hours and were paid less in wake of pandemic slowdown
The nation’s workplace gender gap significantly increased during the coronavirus pandemic and has continued to widen, researchers said, in the first paper showing the impact in the country of the so-called she-cession phenomenon.
The disparity between women and their male peers more than doubled in terms of hours worked, and widened by nearly 30 per cent in terms of pay in 2020 compared with before the coronavirus outbreak, according to a study by Peking University researchers.
“The gender gap in the labour market is still widening after the pandemic has ended, and the plight of working mothers is unlikely to be fundamentally improved in the short term”, said the paper, published in the April issue of the China Economic Review journal.
The term “she-cession” was coined in developed countries and refers to how Covid-induced economic recessions disproportionately affected working women more than men.
Compared with men, Chinese women – who are among the most active in the labour market in Asia – had an unemployment rate 5.1 percentage points higher, worked 1.4 hours less a day and were paid about 2,200 yuan (HK$2,380) less a month in November 2020, according to the study.
Tracking over 5,800 workers across 325 cities in three rounds of surveys, the researchers said that “documenting and understanding the magnitude of the ‘she-cession’ in China is not just a reflection of the past” as economic recession, unemployment and psychological traumas linger.
China, which was the first to be hit by the pandemic and imposed the longest and strictest health control measures, has undergone an uneven recovery since reopening at the end of 2022, and is facing bleak growth prospects partly due to structural issues, including a shrinking workforce.
The female labour force participation rate – the proportion of those aged 15 and older that are economically active – declined from 61.4 per cent in 2019 to 60.5 last year, according to the World Bank.
Overall gender inequality in China has been worsening for decades, mainly due to low parity in political empowerment and sex ratios at birth, with the country ranking 107th among 146 last year, according to the Global Gender Gap Index by the World Economic Forum.
The Peking University study showed that working mothers with young children were worst hit by the pandemic.
Compared with working fathers with children under seven, mothers bore a 181 per cent higher unemployment risk, spent 18.6 per cent less time at work and earned 36.8 per cent less per month in late 2020.
The gap mainly stemmed from changes in the division of labour within households during emergencies, the report said.
“During this special period, working mothers have taken on more family responsibilities, suffered greater employment impacts and experienced more severe psychological trauma,” it said.
“If policymakers hope to prevent Covid-19 from widening existing gender gaps in the labour market, they must provide more safe options for childcare.”
Higher rates of low employment among women could also be a result of greater impact of the pandemic on sectors with a higher proportion of female workers, such as the wholesale and retail trade and tourism and hospitality, according to study by Spanish researchers published in the “Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management journal in February.