Women bearing the brunt of pandemic

Females take on range of additional responsibilities

After working from home and taking care of her two children for several months, 34-year-old Huang Cailing is focusing on keeping her job with a home appliance company in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.

Due to the pandemic, her parents-in-law, who usually look after the children, were unable to return to Shenzhen after Spring Festival.

Huang's 7-year-old daughter had to stay home as her school was closed, and the mother was also unable to find a nanny for her 3-year-old son.

"Working from home with two children making endless demands or fighting with each other and crying has been terrible," she said.

"I am constantly exhausted and have rushed to meet work deadlines, but my husband just did everything as usual, which made me feel that it's unfair."

While people worldwide face unprecedented challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, analysis shows that women are bearing the brunt of the economic and social fallout from the disease.

Ginette Azcona, lead author of UN Women's latest report From Insights to Action, said that for the past 22 years extreme poverty had been declining globally.

"Then came COVID-19, and with it, shrinking economies and lost livelihoods, particularly for women," she said.