Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Title: Gendered Impacts of COVID-19 in Developing Countries
Author-Name: Titan Alon
Author-Email: talon@ucsd.edu
Author-Name: Matthias Doepke
Author-Email: doepke@northwestern.edu 
Author-Name: Kristina Manysheva
Author-Email: kristinamanysheva2021@u.northwestern.edu
Author-Name: Michèle Tertilt
Author-Email: tertilt@unimannheim.de


Classification-JEL:  E3, J2, J7, O1, R2
Keywords:  Covid-19, Pandemics, Women's Labor Supply, Gender Equality

Abstract: 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.

Note: 
Length: 19
Creation-Date: 2022-01
Revision-Date: 
File-URL: https://www.crctr224.de/research/discussion-papers/archive/dp332
File-Format: application/pdf
Handle: RePEc:bon:boncrc:CRCTR224_2022_332