German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that the Covid-19 pandemic could jeopardize progress made on gender equality, as women deal with most childcare during isolation and are more likely to work in hazardous work.
"We need to make sure the pandemic does not make us go back to the old gender patterns we thought we had overcome," Merkel said in a video message ahead of International Women's Day on Monday. Women have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, she said, as they were under-represented in decision-making positions.
"Once again, it is more often women who have to strike a balance between home schooling, childcare and their jobs," Merkel said. Women also outnumber men in the healthcare professions, at a time when these jobs are particularly challenging, she stressed.
"More than 75% of those working in the health sector are women, from doctors' offices and hospitals, to laboratories and pharmacies," the chancellor said - yet women barely reach 30% of leadership positions in these jobs.
"It can not happen that women largely maintain society, but at the same time they are not equally involved in important political, economic and social decisions."
A recent EU study found that the pandemic "has exacerbated existing inequalities between women and men in almost all walks of life". It could "take years, or even decades" to overcome the gender barriers caused by the pandemic, the report said.
Burimet: Guardian, Deutsche Welle
