EVIDENCE REVIEW OF COVID-19 AND WOMEN'S INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT: A CALL TO SUPPORT THE MOST VULNERABLE FIRST IN THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY
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STRAPLINE
BIN BOLD_8/10PT
EVIDENCE REVIEW OF COVID-19 AND
WOMEN’S INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT:
A CALL TO SUPPORT THE MOST VULNERABLE
FIRST IN THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Women in Informal Employment:
Globalizing and Organizing
EVIDENCE REVIEW OF COVID-19 AND WOMEN’S INFORMAL
EMPLOYMENT: A CALL TO SUPPORT THE MOST VULNERABLE
FIRST IN THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Contributors Acknowledgments
1. A woman works in a plastic recycling We thank Miki Khahn Doan (UC Davis) for her research
plant in the Hoa Loi Commune, Tra Vinh
Province, Vietnam.
assistance in the preparation of this policy paper,
Photo credit: Quinn Ryan Mattingly Subhalakshmi Nandi (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation)
2. Sanju Devi and her husband, Vijay Kumar for her insights that helped shape the paper, and Kathleen
1
Choudhary, at their ironing shop in a suburb Beegle (World Bank), Diva Dhar (Bill & Melinda Gates
of Delhi, India.
Photo credit: Prashant Panjiar
Foundation), Kitty Harding (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation),
3. Two women sell fresh vegetables in the
Morgan Hardy (NYU-Abu Dhabi), Krishna Jafa (Stanford
streets of Kangemi, Nairobi. Global Center for Gender Equality), Gisella Kagy (Vassar
2 3 Photo credit: Riccardo Gangale College), Michael Kevane (Santa Clara University), Nitya
Nangalia (SEWA Bharat), Lucia Sanchez (IPA), and Radhika
Saxena (SEWA Bharat) for their helpful inputs and shared
Authors: material at various points in the development of the paper.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Joann Vanek (WIEGO), Kathleen Beegle (World Bank), and Isis
Aishwarya Lakshmi Ratan Gaddis (World Bank) provided valuable critical feedback on an
Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and earlier version of this paper, for which we are very grateful.
Organizing We are responsible for any errors and omissions.
Sally Roever
SEWA Bharat
This evidence review and call to action was prepared in
Renana Jhabvala
the months preceding the current wave of infections,
Paromita Sen
hospitalizations, deaths, and despair, particularly in India and
Brazil. As governments, the healthcare workforce, and civil
society respond to the crisis, we recognise the complexity of
the challenge in implementing effective response measures
Suggested Citation
across the health, economic, and social domains, especially
Lakshmi Ratan, A., Roever, S., Jhabvala, R. and Sen, P.
(May 2021). “Evidence Review of COVID-19 and Women’s in environments with constrained resources. We emphasise
Informal Employment: A Call to Support the Most the importance of the recommendations in this review and
Vulnerable First in the Economic Recovery.” call to action to ensure that the needs of the most vulnerable
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. are recognised, prioritised, and supported.
© 2021, Evidence Review of COVID-19 and Women’s Informal
Employment: A Call to Support the Most Vulnerable First in
the Economic Recovery
02
EVIDENCE REVIEW OF COVID-19 AND WOMEN’S INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT: A CALL TO SUPPORT THE MOST VULNERABLE FIRST IN THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY Contents Executive summary 05 Introduction 08 Overview of the effects of COVID-19 on women’s formal and informal employment globally 09 Overview of COVID-19’s impact on women in informal employment 12 Women’s vulnerabilities in informal occupations 14 › Informal employees (wage workers) 15 › Informal enterprises (own-account workers, microenterprise operators/employers, and contributing family workers) 16 Call for action and recommendations for policy consideration 19 › Recommendations for all women informal workers 20 › Targeted recommendations for informal wage workers 23 › Targeted recommendations for informal enterprises (own-account workers, microenterprises, and contributing family workers) 24 Conclusion 28 References 29 Endnotes 35 03
EVIDENCE REVIEW OF COVID-19 AND WOMEN’S INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT:
A CALL TO SUPPORT THE MOST VULNERABLE FIRST IN THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Boxes & Figures Acronyms & Key Terms
Box 1: Gender and COVID-19 recovery Acronyms
ILO International Labour Organization
Fig 1: D
istribution of informal workers by status LMICs Low- and middle-income countries
in total employment, disaggregated by sex PMJDY Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana
SEWA Self Employed Women’s Association
Fig 2: I mpact of lockdown on women informal WIEGO Women in Informal Employment:
workers in Delhi Globalizing and Organizing
Key Terms
Informal economy diversified set of economic
A
activities, enterprises, jobs,
and workers that are not
protected by the state (ILO,
2018).
Self-help groups A type of women’s group
that, among other activities,
engages in collective
savings to facilitate intra-
group lending and support
collective efforts to improve
livelihoods.
Unpaid work Work provided without
monetary compensation.
04
EVIDENCE REVIEW OF COVID-19 AND WOMEN’S INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT: A CALL TO SUPPORT THE MOST VULNERABLE FIRST IN THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY Executive summary More than a year has elapsed since COVID-19 harder by the impacts of COVID-19, and have plunged the world into uncertainty. Month after rebounded more slowly, than male workers. A month, cascades of reports continue to expose study in Ghana, for example, found that, among the pandemic’s devastating and widespread informal garment enterprise owners, while both impact on women’s livelihoods. Women the world men and women experienced large drops in over have been impacted, yet women in informal monthly profits, hourly profits, and weekly hours employment, with little to no social and labour during the 2020 spring peak of COVID-19, men protections, have been disproportionately were experiencing a steeper post-shock increase ravaged. across all three core outcomes analysed as of In low- and lower-middle income countries, July 2020. Moreover, a follow-up analysis in the informal employment is the norm for women. In same global multi-city WIEGO study finds that, by Africa and India, roughly 90 percent of employed mid-2020, women in the informal economy had women are informal workers. According to one recouped only around 50 percent of their pre- India study, in the wake of COVID-19, 83 percent COVID-19 earnings, while men had recouped 70 of women informal workers faced a severe percent. One reason may be that women in income drop, with half relying on grants for food informal employment confront a host of additional security. Similarly, an April 2020 survey covering and compounded constraints and vulnerabilities 12 cities around the world conducted by Women that impact their recovery, including differential in Informal Employment: Globalizing and unpaid care and domestic work, occupational Organizing (WIEGO), a global network focused on segregation, limited access to capital, greater women in informal employment, found that fears of violence and theft, and the threat of during the peak COVID-19 lockdown period in sexual violence. each city, women informal workers’ earnings, on We know that an increase in a woman’s share of average, were only about 20 percent of their household income can strengthen her bargaining pre-COVID-19 levels (compared with men who power inside and outside the home. In the same were earning about 25 percent of their pre- way, the decline of paid work for women risks pandemic earnings). The same analysis revealed negatively impacting not only basic economic high shares of informal workers drawing down security but also women’s ability to influence savings, borrowing money, and selling off assets. decisions at the individual, household, and Additionally, in a study conducted by the Self- community level. Already in precarious conditions Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) Bharat prior to the pandemic, women in informal across 12 Indian states in April 2020, a month employment are now more vulnerable than ever to after the pandemic and associated lockdown devastating setbacks to their livelihoods, their restrictions began, 78 percent of respondent autonomy, and their ability to meaningfully shape women informal workers across sectors reported the communities around them. a depletion of their savings. But women in Informal employment is not a safety net or a informal employment are far from a homogenous stepping stone to formal employment. It is a group and their unique circumstances are potential engine for post-COVID-19 economic incredibly varied. Occupation, work location, growth. Buoyed by smart policies, the informal employment status, and social hierarchies all economy can help buffer communities from play a role in shaping the unique risks, economic shocks, reduce unemployment distress, vulnerabilities, and opportunities they face, both become a source of dignified work, and act as a during the pandemic and beyond. vehicle for ground-up prosperity. Smart policy Emerging evidence indicates that women begins with addressing gaps in the accurate workers in informal employment have been hit measurement of women’s work and women › 05
EVIDENCE REVIEW OF COVID-19 AND WOMEN’S INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT:
A CALL TO SUPPORT THE MOST VULNERABLE FIRST IN THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Executive summary (continued)
› workers in informal employment and childcare and domestic work needs of women
acknowledging the variations among women’s workers in diverse employment situations.
experiences. It also recognises the importance of • Design and implement measures to protect
monitoring saving and credit behaviours and women informal workers from gender-based
outcomes to assess threats to income and asset violence.
security. Downward spirals in these metrics
present a real risk to the economic recovery and Policies for women informal wage workers:
future livelihoods of women informal workers. • Establish labour market policies addressing
Around the world, and especially in low- and wages, employer-worker relations, insurance,
lower-middle income countries, informal work and workers’ ability to negotiate.
fuels the livelihoods of families, communities, » Determine minimum wage rates across
and societies and uplifts both the informal and informal wage employment categories for
the formal economy. Yet women informal workers hourly, daily, monthly, and piece-rate work.
remain largely invisible and neglected in the » Institutionalise relations between
policymaking processes. As governments chart employers, contractors, and informal
their paths to economic recovery, they must workers; require transparency in hiring
prioritise the most vulnerable first. Focusing on and firing decisions.
women workers in informal employment and » Mandate the provision of accident and
designing policies that improve their quality of liability insurance.
life, recognise their contributions, and support » Create a three-way negotiating forum
dignified work is a key step in laying the involving all stakeholders across
groundwork for future economic growth and an government, employers, and informal
equal distribution of the prosperity that follows. workers.
• Ensure public works programmes focus on
Key actions for policymakers women informal wage workers and create
Cross-cutting measures that combine social and reliable, stable jobs for these workers.
labour protections for all women in informal • Enforce labour protections and support
employment: policies for migrant wage workers.
• Account for women informal workers as part • Provide skills training for women wage
of the economy and prioritise reaching them workers in the use of technology in their fields
in government relief schemes. to enable their digital inclusion.
• Extend short-term cash grants, food relief, • Hold global brands accountable for all wage
and other social protection measures for workers in their supply chains.
informal workers that specifically target
women. Policies for women-run informal enterprises
• Expand the social security system to include (self-employed workers, microenterprise-
women informal workers, providing them with operators, and contributing family workers) that
access to health insurance, pensions, and old must be combined with the cross-cutting policy
age homes. measures:
• Recognise trade unions, cooperatives, and • Recognise and incorporate informal
other forms of women’s collectives that enterprises into government programmes and
represent women informal workers and deploy a combination of grants, subsidies, and
provide critical moral and material support loans to provide access to working capital. ›
particularly in times of crisis.
• Invest in infrastructure that supports the
06EVIDENCE REVIEW OF COVID-19 AND WOMEN’S INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT: A CALL TO SUPPORT THE MOST VULNERABLE FIRST IN THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY Executive summary (continued) • › Deploy new methods and measures of • Leverage the power of psychology-based evaluating businesses for affordable financing skill-building programmes to boost support, taking into account the entrepreneurship and enterprise outcomes, characteristics of informal enterprises and which have been especially promising among incorporating design features that allow women running informal enterprises. women to retain greater control over their • Support the adoption of digital technology capital. among women-run informal enterprises. ● • Increase government procurement from women-led collective enterprises and ease entry barriers while building enterprise support systems to increase the profitability of women-run informal enterprises. 07
EVIDENCE REVIEW OF COVID-19 AND WOMEN’S INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT:
A CALL TO SUPPORT THE MOST VULNERABLE FIRST IN THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Introduction
Informality is the norm for the average woman employers are only one percent and they would
worker in the world’s poorer regions of Southern all fall into that category regardless of firm size.
Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. The vast majority Examining the economy through the lens of
of employment in sub-Saharan Africa (89.2 categories of enterprises (formal and informal)
percent total) and Southern Asia (87.8 percent would typically involve the following
total) is informal (ILO, 2018, Table 2 p. 28 and categorisation:
Table 4 p. 36). Two billion of the world’s employed • Microenterprises (0-4 employees, including
population aged 15 and over work informally, own-account enterprises),
representing 61.2 percent of global employment, • Small enterprises (5-19 employees),
of which 740 million are women. In low and • Medium enterprises (20-99 employees), and
lower-middle income countries, more working • Large enterprises (100 or more employees).
women than working men are in informal
employment. For instance, in Africa, 89.7 percent The vast majority of informal enterprises would
of employed women are in informal employment fall under the microenterprise category, since
compared to 82.7 percent of men (ILO, 2018, p. employing five or more non-family member
20-21). employees tends to be associated with
We organise this evidence review and call to registration of the enterprise and formalisation.
action by focusing on women and informality In this brief, informal enterprises are primarily
within existing categories of workers during the microenterprises as noted above.3
COVID-19 pandemic. The classification of workers As Figure 1 showcases, across developing and
(formal and informal) by the International emerging economies, 34–51 percent of women’s
Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) along informal employment are own account workers
status in employment categories1 are as follows: and another 29–31 percent are contributing family
• Wage workers (employees), workers, while only 17–36 percent are employees/
• Own-account workers (self-employed with no wage workers and a miniscule one percent are
employer and no employees), employers (WIEGO, 2019). Our goal in this policy
• Employers (self-employed with employees), paper is to shine a light on these majorities of
and women workers in low- and lower-middle income
• Contributing family workers.2 countries so that policies can be designed for
them as a priority in the post-COVID-19 economic
Within women’s informal employment globally, recovery. ●
Figure 1: Distribution of informal workers by status in total employment, disaggregated by sex
Composition of informal employment by status in employment and by sex (per cent)
Countries by Employers Employees Own Account Contributing Family
income level Workers Members
Total Women Men Total Women Men Total Women Men Total Women Men
World 3 1 3 36 34 37 45 36 50 16 28 9
Developing 2 1 3 21 17 25 54 51 57 22 31 14
Emerging 3 1 3 37 36 38 44 34 50 16 29 8
Developed 6 4 8 51 57 47 36 28 42 6 10 3
Source: WIEGO 2019, p. 2
08EVIDENCE REVIEW OF COVID-19 AND WOMEN’S INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT:
A CALL TO SUPPORT THE MOST VULNERABLE FIRST IN THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Overview of the effects of COVID-19 on women’s formal and
informal employment globally
Women’s employment has been affected more Kingdom, and the United States) examining
severely than men’s during COVID-19 lockdowns gender differentials in economic outcomes finds
and the subsequent recession. This has that women are 24 percent more likely to
manifested in very different ways depending on permanently lose their jobs compared to men
the structure and composition of a given economy, (Dang and Nguyen, 2021). Women expect their
the distribution of women in a country’s workforce, labour income to fall by 50 percent more than men
and a country’s policy response measures do and tend to reduce current consumption and
(including school closures and furloughs). As the increase savings as a result (ibid).
International Labour Organization (ILO) Monitor on
COVID-19 and the world of work’s seventh edition In India, a nationally-representative
reports, “at the global level, the employment loss
for women stands at 5.0 percent in 2020, versus
sample survey found that while
3.9 percent for men. In absolute numbers, the loss men’s employment recovered almost
is larger for men (80 million) than for women (64 fully by August 2020, the recovery in
million) because of the long‑standing gender gap women’s employment was roughly
in labour force participation rates. Across all seven percentage points lower than
regions, women have been more likely than men the recovery in male employment.
to become economically inactive, that is to drop
out of the labour force, during this crisis” (ILO
In addition, an analysis of time
Monitor, January 2021, p. 9). use across paid and unpaid work
As Alon et al (April 2020) wrote early in the found that “men spent more time
pandemic, while “regular” recessions affect men’s on housework in April 2020, but
employment more severely compared to women’s by August the average male hours
employment, employment losses related to social had declined, though not to the pre-
distancing measures have a large impact on
sectors with high shares of female employment.
pandemic levels.”
The unique nature of the current crisis and
associated closures of schools and daycare In India, where aggregate female labour force
centres have substantially increased childcare participation was already at a low 26 percent
needs, which has a particularly large effect on (having declined from 36 percent over a decade
working mothers. These early theory-informed ago), Desai et al (2021) conducted an urban
predictions are tested in a more recent working monthly employment survey examining the
paper (Alon et al, April 2021) in which they impacts of the COVID-19 lockdown on employment
examine the causes behind this pattern utilising in areas surrounding Delhi between March 2019
micro data from national labour force surveys in a and May 2020 and found that while both men and
number of countries and find support for both women suffer large losses in employment (~35
anticipated pathways. They additionally find that percent), wage employment in particular declined
gender gaps in employment due to the pandemic by 72 percent among women compared to 40
arise almost entirely among workers who are percent among men. Kesar et al (June 2020)
unable to work from home. However, for workers conducted a survey of 5,000 respondents across
who are able to telecommute, women workers 12 states in India and found that women informal
simultaneously face greater childcare pressures workers experienced employment loss by an
and productivity reductions. A six-country survey additional four percentage points in their sample
of primarily high-income countries across regions compared to male informal workers (68 percent
(China, Italy, Japan, South Korea, the United among women versus 64 percent among men). ›
09EVIDENCE REVIEW OF COVID-19 AND WOMEN’S INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT:
A CALL TO SUPPORT THE MOST VULNERABLE FIRST IN THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Overview of the effects of COVID-19 on women’s formal and informal employment globally
(continued)
In Latin America, high-frequency Household type, class, sector, and job type are
phone survey data from 13 countries all critical in assessing the impact of an economic
crisis on women’s employment. In their review of
found that women were 44 percent
the evidence on how economic shocks (such as
more likely than men to lose jobs at the global financial crisis of 2008) impact
the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. women’s employment, Sabarwal et al (2010) find
that “in the past, women from low-income
› Deshpande (2020) analyses a long-running households have typically entered the labour
nationally representative sample survey in India to force, while women from rich households have
find that both men and women experienced a often exited the labour market in response to
large decline in employment during the lockdown economic crises. In contrast, men’s labour force
(April 2020). However, men’s employment participation rates have remained largely
recovered almost fully by August 2020, while the unchanged.”
recovery in women’s employment was roughly One of the particular constraints presented by
seven percentage points lower than the recovery this particular aggregate shock is the increase in
in male employment compared to their respective unpaid work (care work for children and the
pre-pandemic starting points. A similar pattern in elderly and domestic chores) more broadly, and,
the employment rates and recovery timeframes of specifically, the sudden increase in home-based
women and men occurred in West Africa after the childcare requirements due to social distancing.
2014-16 Ebola outbreak. 13 months after the first “For women who remain in employment, their
case of Ebola was detected, 63 percent of men had greater care obligations are forcing them to cut
returned to work in comparison to only 17 percent down on paid working hours or to extend total
of women (Bandiera et al, December 2018). working hours (paid and unpaid) to unsustainable
Disaggregated data from a set of 454 firms levels” (ILO, July 2020). Additionally, in the same
interviewed in three survey rounds in Addis report, the ILO warned that “women are not only
Ababa, Ethiopia (Abebe et al, 2020) found that hit by the loss of jobs but also by expenditure cuts
despite making up only 42 percent of the that contract public service provision, in
workforce, 57 percent of workers laid off in June particular care services.”
2020 were women. In Latin America, Cucagna and Childcare needs prove to be a significant
Romero (2021) analysed high-frequency phone impediment to women’s re-entry. With childcare
survey data from 13 Latin American countries to centres and schools still shut in many parts of the
find that women were 44 percent more likely than world, working mothers have disproportionately
men to lose jobs at the start of the COVID-19 had to limit the number of hours they can leave
pandemic. Moreover, similar to the lag in for work. As Russell and Sun (2020) find in their
employment recovery for women noted in other analysis comparing employment trends among
geographies and during past epidemics, the women with young children against those without,
gender differential in job losses persists even as closures of childcare centres increased
workers who were temporarily unemployed start unemployment rates of mothers with young
returning to work. The presence of school-age children by 2.7 percentage points in months when
children at home is associated with an increase in a closure was in effect. Notably, the negative
job losses among women but not among men. 56 effects did not disappear once states reopened
percent of all job losses are concentrated in childcare centres, consistent with previous
sectors with high shares of women’s employment research suggesting that “it takes significant time
such as trade, personal services, education, and to reintegrate women in the labour force once out
hospitality. of work or that there is a permanent ›
10EVIDENCE REVIEW OF COVID-19 AND WOMEN’S INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT:
A CALL TO SUPPORT THE MOST VULNERABLE FIRST IN THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Overview of the effects of COVID-19 on women’s formal and informal employment globally
(continued)
Figure 2: Impact of lockdown on women informal workers in Delhi
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Domestic Street Waste Home Based Construction All
Worker Vendor Picker Worker Worker Workers
Severely, no income Moderately, significant fall in income No impact
Total Sample Size 176.
Source: ISST Survey (2020)
› supply-side impact on childcare availability.” disruptions and how those have affected sectors
This is a structural constraint to keep in mind and occupations in which women are
given the large share of women workers disproportionately represented or in which
employed in the childcare industry (formally and women may have greater challenges in
informally) for whom the temporary collapse in overcoming those disruptions than men. For
demand might have led to permanent closures of example, in a forthcoming Women in Informal
childcare enterprises and sustained Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO)
unemployment. In her analysis of time use across study, among domestic workers in seven cities
paid and unpaid work during the lockdown and who had not returned to work by June/July 2020,
through the recovery in India, Deshpande the main reason cited was that their employer
(October 2020) finds that “men spent more time had not re-hired them. Similarly, among street
on housework in April 2020, but by August the vendors surveyed in nine cities who had not
average male hours had declined, though not to returned to work, the main reasons cited were
the pre-pandemic levels.” market disruptions, ongoing government
Another recurring constraint in the COVID-19 restrictions, or concerns about the virus itself
context is the extent of supply chain and market (Rogan 2021, forthcoming).4 ●
11EVIDENCE REVIEW OF COVID-19 AND WOMEN’S INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT:
A CALL TO SUPPORT THE MOST VULNERABLE FIRST IN THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Overview of COVID-19’s impact on women in informal
employment
Systematic analyses of the specific impacts found that around 83 percent of women informal
of economic shocks on women in informal workers faced a severe income drop, with
employment compared to women in formal construction workers and street vendors being
employment are rare. WIEGO research the hardest hit (Chakraborty, August 2020; see
undertaken in 2009 and 2010 in South Africa Figure 2 above). 66 percent of respondents
showed that the global economic crisis impacted reported an increase in domestic chores within
informal workers in much the same way as their the household during this period, 36 percent
formal sector counterparts, i.e., through “price stated an increased burden of child and elderly
fluctuations, reduced demand for goods and care work, and one-third highlighted the
services, and the related increase in competition additional burden of arranging food (Chakraborty,
for this shrinking level of aggregate demand” May 2020). Almost half were dependent on
(WIEGO n.d. as cited in Rogan, 2016). Rogan’s grants/rations from the Public Distribution
analysis further notes that on the eve of the System for the availability of food and 31 percent
global financial crisis, 14.5 percent of employed received cooked food by the government at
women were in informal self-employment camps/night shelters. The study also finds that
compared with 9.5 percent of employed men. “post-lockdown the immediate concerns for the
Post-crisis, these shares decreased for women women respondents were continued loss of paid
but not for men. Moreover, this was driven work and payment of house rent” (Chakraborty,
primarily by women in informal employment May 2020).
exiting the labour market: “the decrease in
informal sector employment (15 percent) for
In Ghana, while both men and women
women over this period was far greater than
the decrease in formal sector employment (4
in informal employment experienced
percent)” (ibid). large drops in monthly profits, hourly
SEWA Bharat reported in 2009 that the impacts profits, and weekly hours during the
of the financial crisis on women in the informal 2020 spring peak of COVID-19, men
economy in India went undercounted and were experiencing a steeper post-
unrecognised as women did not lose employment shock increase across all three core
as much as they saw “incomes decline, days of
work available decrease and livelihoods
outcomes.
disappear” (SEWA Bharat, 2009). Further, there
were longer term impacts of actions taken An ongoing study examines the gendered
through the crisis, such as increased impact of COVID-19 on garment enterprise
indebtedness, sale of assets, and suspension of owners in Ghana, half of which are informal
children’s education, which compromised own-account enterprises with no employees, and
nutrition and health amongst other negative the remainder microenterprises with few
outcomes. employees. The study finds that while both men
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the Institute of and women experienced large drops in monthly
Social Studies Trust (ISST) in India conducted a profits, hourly profits, and weekly hours during
series of 176 interviews in the last week of April the 2020 spring peak of COVID-19, men were
2020 on the impact of the COVID-19 national experiencing a steeper post-shock increase
lockdown on the livelihoods of urban women across all three core outcomes analysed as of
informal workers in Delhi in five different sectors July 2020 (Hardy et al, January 2021). The
(domestic work, street vending, waste picking, analysis also shows some preliminary indications
home based work, and construction work). They of differential alternative income generating ›
12EVIDENCE REVIEW OF COVID-19 AND WOMEN’S INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT: A CALL TO SUPPORT THE MOST VULNERABLE FIRST IN THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY Overview of COVID-19’s impact on women in informal employment (continued) › activities being pursued by men versus women markets were increasingly impediments to to compensate for income losses and smooth women’s continuous employment in a post- consumption (ibid). COVID-19 world. In a study covering multiple Examining earnings among informal workers in trades across 12 states, more than 78 percent of 12 cities, a forthcoming WIEGO analysis of COVID- women workers reported a complete depletion of 19’s impact finds that women’s earnings in April, their savings within a month of the COVID-19 on average, were only about 20 percent of their crisis (Sen et al, 2020). Street vendors and pre-COVID-19 levels (compared with men who agricultural workers, amongst others, identified were earning about 25 percent of their pre- an inability to access markets due to lockdown COVID-19 earnings). By mid-year, women had measures, lack of public transport (CPPR, 2020), recovered only about half of their initial earnings and increased care work burden as significant while men had recovered about 70 percent (Rogan impediments to resuming full employment (Sen 2021, forthcoming).5 et al, 2020). WIEGO’s global 12-city study (Roever Data collected early in the COVID-19 pandemic and Rogan 2020) reveals high shares of informal by the Self Employed Women’s Association workers drawing down savings, borrowing money, (SEWA) found that lack of access to finance and and selling off assets. ● 13
EVIDENCE REVIEW OF COVID-19 AND WOMEN’S INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT:
A CALL TO SUPPORT THE MOST VULNERABLE FIRST IN THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Women’s vulnerabilities in informal occupations
In its report detailing the distribution of informal flexible or piece-rate work in order to
workers, the ILO notes that “even though globally accommodate concurrent care work and
there are fewer women than men in informal domestic chores.
employment, women in the informal economy
are more often found in the most vulnerable In India, women sub-contracted
situations, for instance as domestic workers,
home-based workers, or contributing family
home workers are often
workers, than their male counterparts” (ILO dependent on male contractors
2018, p. 20-21). Women workers’ experience or intermediaries for orders,
of vulnerability in informal employment is a payments, raw materials etc.,
function of their occupation as well as the and self-employed home-based
specific circumstances of being women workers workers are dependent on access to
within the power hierarchies of the occupational
groups. The following examples illustrate the
transport and markets. Additionally,
intersectional nature of women informal workers’ gendered norms and dynamics
vulnerabilities.6 disproportionately push women
In South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, into home-based flexible or piece-
agriculture is still the main employer of women. rate work in order to accommodate
In India, 73 percent of all women rural workers
concurrent care work and domestic
are employed in agriculture (Sundari, 2020), yet
only 13 percent of rural women are owners of
chores.
operational land holdings (Tripathi, 2018). In the
context of the Indian agricultural sector, women In certain occupations, women and men face
often undertake significantly arduous and yet common vulnerabilities, but women face
poorly paid activities such as weeding, rice additional vulnerabilities. Women street vendors
planting, etc. When agriculture is mechanised, in India, for example, often have lower ownership
men have often taken over these activities, than their male counterparts of ration cards or
displacing women workers (Sainath, 2014). other government documents to benefit from
For domestic workers (almost all of whom are government relief programmes (Kaur et al, May
women), vulnerabilities commonly relate to the 2020). Additionally, women are vulnerable to
lack of labour and social protections. Moreover, threats from wholesalers or money lenders as
working inside the employer’s home creates well as to evictions and physical and sexual
conditions for risks such as sexual violence. As violence by police in public spaces like markets,
per official estimates, there are 5.24 million which are distinct from the threats posed to male
domestic workers (NSS Statistical Brief No. 23, street vendors. Women street vendors are more
2017-18).7 likely to sell low-value products than men street
For women home-based workers, vulnerability vendors (because of constraints such as lower
involves relations of dependency. For example, access to capital and greater fears of violence/
women sub-contracted home workers are often theft).
dependent on male contractors or intermediaries Women construction workers lack safety
for orders, payments, raw materials etc., and equipment and experience accidents, like their
self-employed home-based workers are male counterparts, but they additionally face
dependent on access to transport and markets. sexual violence from contractors and male
Additionally, gendered norms and dynamics supervisors. Gendered segregation of roles within
disproportionately push women into home-based the construction industry prevents skilled ›
14EVIDENCE REVIEW OF COVID-19 AND WOMEN’S INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT:
A CALL TO SUPPORT THE MOST VULNERABLE FIRST IN THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Women’s vulnerabilities in informal occupations (continued)
› women workers from getting skilled work on pushed out of paid work, and even by September–
construction sites, and instead they are given October, were still reporting incomes 41 percent
manual work as a default. below their baseline incomes (January–February)
Among waste pickers, dealers and contractors (Dalberg, 2021).
engage in exploitative monopsonistic practices
through drastic reduction in prices of waste Informal employees (wage workers)
material, for instance from Rs 30 to Rs 4 per Domestic workers who are employees of
kilogram (Banerjee and Sharma, May 2020). households have been especially vulnerable to
Women waste pickers are more likely to collect prolonged unemployment and employment
lower-value materials because of gendered termination during the COVID-19 crisis. Reports
hierarchies and the threat of physical compiled from affiliates of the International
confrontation on dumpsites, which mean, for Domestic Workers Federation suggest that
example, that men get metals while women are domestic workers in all regions have been forced
left with cardboard and plastic. into unpaid leave, had hours cut, or have lost their
jobs altogether without any protections. The
In India, across industries where effects of the pandemic have been especially
workers are wage employed, wage severe for migrant domestic workers, both
domestic and international, who have faced
discrimination by gender in informal particular vulnerabilities during this crisis, with
work is rampant, whether in heightened risks for women migrant workers
construction or in the farm sector. It (GAATW, 2019). Interviews with foreign domestic
is not only the occupation that shapes workers residing in their employers’ homes in
employment outcomes; it is also the Hong Kong reveal several points of unique
gendered dynamics and hierarchies vulnerability and discrimination. For instance,
foreign domestic workers have been stopped
embedded in the day-to-day practice from having any paid time off outside the
of the occupation. employer’s home: “Is it some kind of joke? If we
go out on our rest day, we catch the virus and
Across industries where workers are wage employers go out whenever they want, they are
employed, wage discrimination by gender in not catching the virus and risking my health”
informal work is rampant, whether in (Female foreign domestic worker respondent).
construction or in the farm sector. In sum, it is not Some have found their jobs terminated with no
only the occupation that shapes employment avenues to return to their home countries given
outcomes; it is also the gendered dynamics and restrictions in international flights: “I have no job,
hierarchies embedded in the day-to-day practice no money, no food. My friend has some part-time
of the occupation. job, so she shares some food with me. No place to
It is important to note that migrant workers are stay. I live in a boarding house with 10-12 more
in all the occupations discussed above. Their people. My bed is in a small room, six of us sleep
vulnerabilities deserve particular attention in the there. Three bunk beds- five ladies and one man.
current crisis, where informal workers were It is troublesome sharing the same bathroom,
forced en masse to retreat to their ‘homes’ (often changing dress, etc. I am waiting for flights to Sri
hundreds or thousands of miles away) without pay Lanka” (Foreign domestic worker from Sri Lanka)
or support from their employers or governments. (Gender & COVID-19, 2020).
Migrant women were among the hardest hit and The agriculture sector has seen the largest
slowest to recover in India—21 percent were gender gap in terms of job loss and recovery in ›
15EVIDENCE REVIEW OF COVID-19 AND WOMEN’S INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT:
A CALL TO SUPPORT THE MOST VULNERABLE FIRST IN THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Women’s vulnerabilities in informal occupations (continued)
› India. Women agricultural labourers have lost Fitzpatrick (2021) find that 37 percent of female
work by 15 additional percentage points owners of pharmacies bring their small children
compared to men (Dalberg, 2021). Across to work compared to zero percent of men.
occupations, women’s loss of paid work was Bringing a child to work is associated with 48
highest in the casual labour category, although it percent lower profits and affects profits through
largely recovered fast. Around half of self- lowering the owner’s ability to re-stock (ibid).
employed women and domestic workers lost paid
work (~44 percent). While the recovery has been
In Ethiopia, while women-owned
reasonable for self-employed women (~91
percent regained), it has been slower for businesses were disproportionally
domestic workers (~82 percent regained). Several affected by the COVID-19 pandemic,
studies have indicated the precarity of informal less than one percent had received
jobs. Construction was the only sector where men
any type of government support.
fared worse (ibid).
Informal enterprises (own-account workers, There is systematic evidence emerging that
microenterprise operators/employers, and own-account workers and microenterprises in
contributing family workers) several geographies have been hit especially hard
Informal own-account workers (self-employed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and that women-
with no employees, though often relying on owned enterprises within these categories have
contributing family workers) and informal been hit hardest in terms of a drop in sales.
employers (self-employed with employees) face Analysis of a dataset compiled from the World
particular challenges. Employers have high risk Bank’s Business Pulse Survey and Enterprise
but high autonomy, while employees have low Survey programmes comprising 37,000
risk but low autonomy, and own-account workers businesses across 52 mostly low- and middle-
and dependent contractors are in the middle of income countries (LMICs) conducted between
the risk-autonomy spectrum. Own-account April and September 20208 finds that women-led
workers are likely to have lower capital and fewer micro-businesses experienced a significantly
assets than employers of any firm size. larger decline in sales revenues, with a 50.4
Even in non-crisis circumstances, we know that percent decline in sales compared to 48.1 percent
women’s enterprises on average report 34 for men-led microenterprises (Torres et al,
percent lower profits than similar enterprises run January 2021). Looking across sectors, their
by men, driven by a number of interconnected analysis shows that women-led businesses in the
constraints; this is true whether it pertains to hospitality industry (hotels and restaurants) had a
own-account enterprises (operators involving no significantly higher probability of reporting supply
employees), microenterprises (four or fewer shocks (82.3 percent among women-led
employees), small enterprises (five to 19 businesses versus 74.1 percent for men-led
employees), or medium-sized (20 to 99 businesses). Countries where the COVID-19 shock
employees) (World Bank, 2019, p. 36; Hardy and was comparatively more severe had their women-
Kagy, 2018). Market-level factors contribute to led businesses reporting less cash available and a
the gap, such as women operating in more higher probability of falling in arrears. In terms of
crowded industries, such as garment making coping strategies, women-led microenterprises
(Hardy and Kagy, 2020). In Uganda, where 84 were comparatively more likely (41.5 percent
percent of all working women are self-employed, among women-led microenterprises versus 33.7
and most women are mothers, Delecourt and percent among men-led microenterprises) ›
16EVIDENCE REVIEW OF COVID-19 AND WOMEN’S INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT: A CALL TO SUPPORT THE MOST VULNERABLE FIRST IN THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY Women’s vulnerabilities in informal occupations (continued) › to grant leaves to their employees or reduce percent of the sales revenue they had earned the their wages or hours (rather than initiate layoffs), same month in the previous year. Women-owned and exhibited a significantly higher likelihood of businesses differentially experienced a significant increasing their use of digital platforms (27.6 drop in profit and an acceleration of losses: losses percent among women-led microenterprises jumped from ETB 786 in April 2020 to ETB 6,000 versus 17.5 percent among men-led in June 2020. While women-owned businesses microenterprises), even though their probability were disproportionally affected by the COVID-19 of investing in digital solutions was equivalent. pandemic, less than one percent had received any Torres et al (2021) also document gender gaps in type of government support. Across the three access to public support, which is significant survey rounds, a total of 18 firms reported among micro-firms, among businesses in accessing such support services: only two of services other than retail, and among businesses them were women-owned businesses. in countries more severely affected by the shock. In India, women-led enterprises comprise Among 414 firms surveyed in Addis Ababa, around 20 percent of all enterprises. Self- Ethiopia, over five rounds (April–September employed women engaged in agriculture had the 2020), more microenterprises and own-account highest gender disparity in recovery (~eight firms report continued closure since April 1, 2020 percentage points) (Dalberg, 2021). An analysis of and faced more acute liquidity challenges from women micro entrepreneurs in September 2020 low cash flow (Bundervoet et al, September found that 75 percent were unable to pay their 2020). Disaggregated analysis from the set of 454 employees at all for a period of three months firms interviewed across three of the above five after the COVID-19 crisis shut down over 79 survey rounds in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, (Abebe et percent of women-led enterprises. While around al, July 2020) highlighted the ways in which the 10 percent were able to pivot their business into a pandemic has impacted men and women-owned potentially sustainable new model, they faced firms differently. Within this sample, the median significant challenges around procurement of raw number of workers is zero in women-owned materials (e.g., longer delivery times, low stock businesses and one in men-owned businesses with suppliers) and access to markets to sell their (even after excluding own account firms, the products (SEWA Bharat, 2020(b)). While some had mean (seven) and median (three) employment in shifted online for their work, a 47 percent digital men-owned firms is larger than the gender gap implied that the benefits of the online corresponding mean (four) and median (two) of economy would benefit women significantly less women-owned businesses among firms with paid (SEWA Bharat, 2020(a)). workers). In this context, even though women are Coping strategies to endure these losses in engaged in trade, tourism, and hospitality income have depleted women’s finances and (sectors that are considered immediate-risk assets during this crisis among informal own- industries for business disruptions due to the account workers and microenterprises. An IFMR- COVID-19 pandemic), women-owned businesses LEAD and World Bank survey of rural enterprises were no more likely to remain closed compared to led by women in India reports that 11 percent of men-owned businesses (a quarter of all the 2,000+ women-led businesses they surveyed businesses were closed in June). However, the faced permanent closure of their businesses COVID-19 pandemic further widened the gender (Narasimhan et al, 2020). Revenues had nearly gap in business earnings. While all firms had halved, and drawing on savings and business experienced a drastic decline in sales turnover, cash reserves had been the most common coping the dip appeared to be more severe in women- strategies to cover business costs (ibid). Similar owned businesses—they generated less than 20 to the constraints noted in the Ethiopia › 17
EVIDENCE REVIEW OF COVID-19 AND WOMEN’S INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT: A CALL TO SUPPORT THE MOST VULNERABLE FIRST IN THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY Women’s vulnerabilities in informal occupations (continued) › studies, market supply chains had been access to data (specifically on impacts on women, significantly affected due to the COVID-19 as communication assets, means, and privacy are lockdown and the ensuing recession. Women lower among women—see Alvi et al, July 2020) already had limited mobility and limited access to has been intermittent due to the COVID-19 crisis markets, and the current market shocks and and the subsequent impediments to mobility. breaks in supply chains had further dampened Qualitative studies and small-scale studies of women’s informal enterprises. These disruptions women-led microenterprises validate these are echoed in a study of 1,589 respondents (589 larger sample survey results. Mathew, Deborah, microenterprise operators and 1,000 workers) in Karonga, and Rumbidzai (2020) describe how 174 blocks/sub-districts of 28 districts conducted many self-employed women in Zambia predicted by BRAC in Bangladesh. In this survey, 65 percent that it would be unlikely that they would revive of women enterprise operators reported having their businesses due to spending down their no income, while 58 percent of women working in savings during the downturn. Jaim (2020) reports the informal economy reported having no jobs that women business owners in Bangladesh felt between February and June 2020 during the that gendered issues had affected their ability to government-mandated shutdown. The study keep their businesses running during the reports that one-third (33 percent) of enterprise pandemic in both negative and positive ways. Key operators had to shut their businesses, and 41 negative issues included higher wholesale prices percent had to lay off their workers during the for women business owners (relative to men), pandemic. 86 percent of the enterprise operators lack of domestic helpers at home, which reported that they could not take any measures increased workloads, lack of mobility to make for coping with their business-related challenges, deliveries, and patriarchal attitudes of husbands; and only 29 percent of enterprise operators on the positive side, some respondents reported reported having any knowledge of government receiving support from family in completing support (BRAC, September 2020). household work and supporting other women in Studies by SEWA Bharat and the SEWA overcoming patriarchal barriers. Cooperative Federation (SEWA Federation, 2020) As noted in this section and the previous one, report that over 86 percent of women informal women wage workers employed in both respondents in the agriculture sector face firms and households have been vulnerable to significant debt burdens since they were unable employment termination or reduced hours, and to recoup their last investment due to the spring own-account women workers have faced distinct harvest coinciding with the COVID-19 crisis. Rural market-related challenges. However, no studies communities in India have also had to bear the were identified on the impact of COVID-19 on brunt of the migration exodus from urban contributing family workers. This is a significant centres, as well as compounding crises such as data gap given their large representation in Cyclones Amphan and Nisarga, forest fires in women’s employment (close to a third of informal Uttarakhand, locust infestations in Madhya employment) and one that must be urgently Pradesh and Rajasthan, and floods in Bihar and addressed in order to reach these women Assam. Additionally, impacts on rural workers with adequate support. ● communities appear to be undercounted as 18
EVIDENCE REVIEW OF COVID-19 AND WOMEN’S INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT:
A CALL TO SUPPORT THE MOST VULNERABLE FIRST IN THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Call for action and recommendations for policy consideration
Just as an increase in women’s paid employment policymakers need to be acutely cognisant of the
and share of household income can increase hierarchies of risk going into a crisis such as the
women’s bargaining power within and outside the current pandemic and recession. A key question
household (Kabeer, 2008; Qian, 2008), the current that governments, markets, and civil society must
reversals risk impacting not just basic economic collectively and continuously ask is therefore: how
security, but additionally women’s ability to shape do we identify and incorporate the hierarchy of
individual, household, and community decisions. risk and vulnerability in employment in our
Rather than considering informal employment response to the pandemic and through the
as a safety net for formal employment, economic recovery, now and in future crises?
governments in LMICs must recognise that it is Models that do this note that “home-based
an area of employment with its own risks, and workers, casual wage workers, the informally
that with the right policies, it could become a site self-employed, and, in particular, women are
of better working conditions and an engine for more vulnerable and face a higher risk of poverty”
ground-up prosperity. Workers in informal (Rogan, 2016). ›
employment are not a homogenous group, and
Box 1:
Gender and COVID-19 recovery
We want to highlight three particular points of 2. We must pay close attention to the pattern of
departure from the current policy dialogue on savings and credit behaviour and outcomes,
gender and the post-COVID-19 economic and income and asset loss. Downward
recovery: spirals in these metrics present a real risk
1. All things are not equal when it comes to for high-interest debt traps for women and
evaluating who has been hardest hit by informal workers.
the pandemic and the ensuing recession.
3. Addressing the gaps in the accurate
We must pay attention to the variations
measurement of women’s work and women
among women’s experience in
workers in informal employment across
employment, and specifically the
categories of employment in a dynamic and
majorities engaged in informal
timely manner is critical to gaining an
employment in LMIC settings—
accurate picture of the needs of the majority
considering whether the instance is one of
of women workers in LMIC contexts, and the
lost jobs, lost work that did not return, or
needs of the most vulnerable workers among
returned to work and lost income/working
them.
hours—in designing an appropriate suite
of effective policy responses.
19EVIDENCE REVIEW OF COVID-19 AND WOMEN’S INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT:
A CALL TO SUPPORT THE MOST VULNERABLE FIRST IN THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Call for action and recommendations for policy consideration (continued)
› Informal wage workers constitute one collectors, and the impact on smallholder
significant demographic, while we group own farmers of contract farming and large-scale land
account workers, microenterprise operators, and acquisition. We must therefore critically examine
contributing family workers into a second broad policies related to government planning and
demographic for targeted policy consideration. management and private sector reform to ensure
We propose recommendations that would apply that they promote and support existing livelihood
to all women informal workers, as well as a opportunities in the informal economy.
breakdown of specific policies per demographic. Social safety net measures extended early in
the pandemic provided crucial support to
Recommendations for all women informal workers informal workers where they could be accessed.
Women in informal employment, including the In the short term, the interventions that mattered
29–31 percent working as contributing family more to informal workers were emergency cash
workers, first and foremost need to be accurately grants and food relief, as well as moratoriums on
counted and recognised as workers creating rent and utilities, but those were short-term or
economic value, and subsequently incorporated one-time and set to expire in many cases. These
into existing government accounting and relief relief measures must be extended for the
schemes that support their improved access to immediate future, especially for the most
work and returns from work. Women farmers in vulnerable workers. Food transfers were noted to
India, for instance, are under-registered and be particularly effective during COVID-19,
undercounted as workers, and therefore more especially those that expanded the reach of these
limited in their ability to access schemes and transfers to communities who were
entitlements designated for the agriculture undocumented (Agarwal, K., 2020). Early on in the
sector. In several countries and especially during pandemic, in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India, for
crises like the current pandemic, official example, 94 percent of women in the sample of
statistical systems often do not have accurate 2,703 women across 180 Gram Panchayats
counts of levels and changes in women informal reported receiving their food rations through the
workers in categories such as home-based Public Distribution System in April–May 2020,
workers or domestic workers. while only 49 percent of them reported having
received their electronic cash transfer into their
In India, women farmers are under- bank account via the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan
Yojana (PMJDY), and only 43 percent reported
registered and undercounted as having received the LPG (cooking gas) subsidy at
workers, and therefore more limited the time of the survey (Yale Economic Growth
in their ability to access schemes Center, 2020). A third of the women surveyed
and entitlements designated for the either lacked a PMJDY account or were not sure if
they had one (ibid). Yet, these safety net measures
agriculture sector. were not at sufficient scale to reach large
numbers of eligible recipients. India’s PMJDY
Government planning and management programme aimed to distribute Rs. 500 (USD
systems severely affect women informal workers $6.80; ~USD $21 in PPP terms) per month
with little to no consideration of how policy between April and June to all female PMJDY
changes impact them. Examples include the (financial inclusion) account holders and reach an
impact of city planning measures affecting street estimated 200 million women, yet even this scale
vendors and their access to markets, impact of of operations was estimated to likely miss 176 or
waste management systems on informal waste so million low-income women who qualified for ›
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