ЗМІНИ НА РИНКУ ПРАЦІ В УМОВАХ КАРАНТИННИХ ОБМЕЖЕНЬ: ГЕНДЕРНИЙ АСПЕКТ

Abstract

The economic crisis caused by the current pandemic that has led to a sharp decline in demand in both the Ukrainian labor market and globally. Employment in the world in 2020 fell not only due to job loss, but also due to inaction: people left the labor market because they could not work due to lockdowns. Problems in the labor market affected more women than men. In all regions of the world, women are more likely to become economically inactive, in other words to drop out of the workforce during this crisis. One of the groups of women at particular risk are women in various occupations who have children of preschool or primary school age. As a result, more than a quarter of working women are considering slowing down their careers or giving up work altogether due to the forced stay of children at home. The most popular women's professions are related to education, training, care and intensive interpersonal communication. The most risky areas in terms of virus infection - medicine, education, household services, retail trade, etc. - are represented mainly by employed women. Considering the specifics of pandemic measures, it is obviously that the service sector has suffered the most from lockdowns and quarantine restrictions. Similar data are published in European and American statistical reports. More women than men are employed in personal care, cleaning and education. The solution of this problem can be considered in three ways simultaneously: at the level of households, enterprises and the state. For households, a more proportionate redistribution of a woman's responsibilities to other family members may be a possible outcome. Businesses may also take a number of measures to mitigate the impact and offset gender disparities in the labor market caused by quarantine restrictions. The state should consider and approve short-term support scenarios for families with children, examples of which can be seen in European countries. Public policy in the long-term should be aimed at forming and introducing into society the norm of the need for active engagement men in household chores and child care on par with women.