COVID-19: a crisis of the female self-employed

Abstract

We investigate how the economic consequences of the pandemic and the government-mandated measures to contain its spread affect the self-employed — particularly women — in Germany. For our analysis, we use representative, real-time survey data in which respondents were asked about their situation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings indicate that among the self-employed, who generally face a higher likelihood of income losses due to COVID-19 than employees, women are about one-third more likely to experience income losses than their male counterparts. We do not find a comparable gender gap among employees. Our results further suggest that the gender gap among the self-employed is largely explained by the fact that women disproportionately work in industries that are more severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our analysis of potential mechanisms reveals that women are significantly more likely to be impacted by government-imposed restrictions, e.g., the regulation of opening hours. We conclude that future policy measures intending to mitigate the consequences of such shocks should account for this considerable variation in economic hardship.

Quantifying the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on gender equality on health, social, and economic indicators: a comprehensive review of data from March, 2020, to September, 2021

“…2,28 In addition to the health-related effects of the pandemic, the gender impacts on other key sectors of wellbeing have also been widely discussed. 19 Consistent with previous studies, [61][62][63][64] we found that women were disproportionately affected by the economic fallout of the pandemic, with greater rates of employment loss and increases in uncompensated (and frequently unrecognised) labour. Unlike previous recessions, 65 the most affected sectors during the COVID-19 pandemic were traditionally dominated by women, including retail and hospitality.…”

Gender division of housework during the COVID-19 pandemic: Temporary shocks or durable change?

“…Our results suggest that in the United Kingdom the gender division of housework was only altered temporarily, as has also been found for Germany in the study whose data and methodological approach most resembles ours (Boll, Müller, and Schüller 2021). Occupational gender segregation and the associated prevalence of men and women being on furlough, in essential occupations, or self-employed will alter time availability and thereby gendered contributions to housework (Graeber, Kritikos, and Seebauer 2021). In addition, couples' reliance on public versus private childcare provision might also be important for the gender division of housework, as in most countries private care was not as uniformly shut down during lockdown, and there were important differences by country in school and nursery closure schemes.…”

Occurrence of Mental Illness and Mental Health Risks among the Self-Employed: A Systematic Review

“…On an individual level, further evidence will support general practitioners offering their selfemployed patients' specific information on mental health promotion strategies. The current pandemic has shown how vulnerable sole proprietors in many branches are and how in particular the female self-employed were affected [79].…”