Pandemic job losses, workforce exits cost women $800B in lost income last year!

A new report from Oxfam International ties a monetary amount to the pandemic’s devastation for working women.

In 2020, women lost more than $800 billion in income globally, CNN reports, which is more than the combined gross domestic product of 98 countries. Women around the world lost 64 million jobs last year, a 5% loss, while men’s job losses amounted to 3.9%, Oxfam notes.

“Economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic is having a harsher impact on women, who are disproportionately represented in sectors offering low wages, few benefits and the least secure jobs,” said Gabriela Bucher, executive director of Oxfam International, per a news release. “Instead of righting that wrong, governments treated women’s jobs as dispensable — and that has come at a cost of at least $800 billion in lost wages for those in formal employment.”