Women's work: the impact of the COVID crisis on Australian women

The [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 recession was Australia's deepest since the Great Depression. This report argues that, while all Australians felt some effects, the economic pain was not shared equally. This recession hit young people, those in insecure work, and women particularly hard. Indeed, women are recovering from a 'triple-whammy' - they were more likely to lose their jobs, more likely to do a lot more unpaid work, and less likely to get government support. Women's employment improved as the economy re-opened, but many groups have not caught up, and on current forecasts,...  [+] Show more

The [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 recession was Australia's deepest since the Great Depression. This report argues that, while all Australians felt some effects, the economic pain was not shared equally. This recession hit young people, those in insecure work, and women particularly hard. Indeed, women are recovering from a 'triple-whammy' - they were more likely to lose their jobs, more likely to do a lot more unpaid work, and less likely to get government support. Women's employment improved as the economy re-opened, but many groups have not caught up, and on current forecasts, unemployment will remain too high for too long. Mothers in couples, and single parents (80 per cent of whom are women), were more likely to leave the labour force than other groups. Women of childbearing age also gave up study in record numbers. For single parents, paid hours remain substantially below pre-pandemic levels.

The report puts the case that the COVID recession will compound existing economic disadvantage for women and that the government recession response overlooks many women. Recommendations are put forward to build a recovery for all Australians. These include in the short term, government investment in services jobs and in the longer term, federal government focus on the care economy to boost women's employment, including making early childhood education and care cheaper, to support women's workforce participation, and establishing an independent inquiry to review Australia's care industries, including worker pay, future workforce needs, and financing models. The role of state governments would be to lead the development of training (and re-training) programs to grow Australia's care workforce. In the future, gender analysis would become part of government budget development processes, to reduce the risk of women being overlooked or suffering unforeseen consequences from policy decisions. In the recovery phase, and in future downturns, stimulus would go well beyond the construction sector and include temporary expansions of social programs and services.

Edited excerpts from publication.