JAKARTA: Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the Covid-19 pandemic causes impacts on health which leads to social and economic impacts. In this sector, the majority or 70 percent of workers are women.
She said the pandemic had an asymmetric effect on men and women. “Because the exposure is very high in the health sector, likewise in the social sector,” Sri said.
The different impacts of the pandemic on men and women are also evident from the implementation of the work from home (WFH) policy. Sri argued that the burden on women gets heavier with the policy.
It is common that women play a huge role in the family thus far. When the work from home policy is enforced, the domestic burden is much greater for women, and this is not a new phenomenon.
Sri mentioned that Raden Ajeng Kartini in 1902 had already discussed this through her letters. Meanwhile, women’s opportunities for education and careers are strictly limited.
The same thing was reported in the study conducted by McKinsey & Company. It is revealed that women’s jobs are 1.8 times more vulnerable to this crisis than men’s jobs. “This means, women are in a more vulnerable position with their jobs. They will be the first to get dismissed when there is a layoff,” Sri added.
Thus, she opined that gender equality would provide benefits to life, including to the economy.
In the Asia Pacific region, gender equality in the role of women in the economic sector can add value up to US$4.5 trillion. “One of the McKinsey & Company’s studies shows that advancing women’s equality can add US$12 trillion to the global economy by 2025,” Sri Mulyani explained.
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