Pandemic may be eroding women's hard-earned progress towards gender equality — Ibec

Ahead of today's webinar, the business group's social policy chief says women are being disproportionately impacted by the crisis

Almost a third of respondents to the Ibec survey said more women than men in their workforce requested unpaid leave to facilitate caring. See link to today's online event at the foot of this article. Picture: iStock

A new survey from business group IBEC confirms the growing concerns that the Covid pandemic has the potential to erode hard-earned progress in gender equity.

The survey, carried out in March, sought to examine the impact of the pandemic on women, and reveals that 20% of organisations had noticed a change in the position of women in their organisations over the previous 12 months, citing changes such as increased pressure and stress for women, childcare responsibilities, and requests from women for worktime flexibility to accommodate childcare or eldercare.

Altering work to facilitate caring

While the pandemic has impacted the caring responsibilities of many workers, the Ibec research reveals that almost half of respondents (48%) said that more women than men had requested for changes to their working patterns to facilitate caring responsibilities.

The survey also shows that 31% of respondents said that more of their female employees than their male counterparts had requested unpaid leave to facilitate caring responsibilities over the past 12 months.

Ibec's head of social policy, Kara McGann, says we need to shift the agenda so we 'actively correct the historical wrongs and systemic barriers that leave women and gender diverse people behind'. 

'Women worst affected by crises'

Ibec's head of social policy, Kara McGann, said that, historically, women are disproportionately impacted by crises, disasters, and societal disruption, and Covid-19 checks all those boxes. 

"Our survey findings confirm that Covid-19 has accentuated long-standing gender imbalances across several dimensions, threatening hard-won markers of gender equity," she said. 

The pandemic is deepening pre-existing inequalities, exposing vulnerabilities in social, political and economic systems which are in turn amplifying the impacts of the pandemic.

“Our survey also reveals that one-fifth of companies intend to introduce increased supports to women over the next 12 months. 

Actively addressing systemic barriers

"However, if equality is the goal, we need to shift to an equity agenda that ensures we are putting the right measures in place to actively correct the historical wrongs and systemic barriers that leave women and gender diverse people behind, and provide them with the tools and support they need to thrive.”

The survey findings coincide with today's Ibec Global event on what collectively needs to be done to achieve goals for gender equality.

• To find out more about the live event which takes place from 1pm to 3pm today, visit exa.mn/IbecGenderEquality online.