Women Likely to be Harder Hit Than Men by Trade Disruptions Due to Covid-19 Pandemic: WTO Paper

In the services sector also, it said, women also outnumber men in industries that have been directly affected by travel restrictions, such as tourism and business travel services.

“Women are at risk of suffering more than men from the trade disruption generated by the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the reasons for this is that a larger share of women works in sectors and types of firms that have been particularly hard-hit by the pandemic,” it said.

The paper stated that maintaining open markets during the recovery period is key to building faster and more inclusive growth, the information note states.

It added that this should be complemented by appropriate labour and education policies as well as legal and social reforms to support women workers, consumers and traders.