Publication:

Gender inequality in the labor returns of Covid-19

The last decades have been of major importance for the inclusion of women in the Spanish labour market, moving towards a work place with an increased gender equality. However, analysing how an unexpected and uncertain shock such as the covid-19 pandemic would affect gender integration in the marketplace is relevant on its own. The stringency of the measures taken by the governments to slow down the speed of contagion made it difficult for adults in charge of children, elderly or any other dependent to outsource their required care needs. Which side of the couple has absorbed these increased responsibilities and how it has affected the labour market is what I study in this dissertation. To overcome these questions, I gather data from Spanish citizens and run a quantitative analysis with it. My study finds that women seem to have been more likely than men to reduce their number of working hours or even to leave their paid jobs in order to take care of their dependents after the covid- 19 virus outbroke in Spain. The results found offer an initial picture for further research on gender equality in the labour market. Which are the economic, cultural and psychological reasons underlying the events found, must be of interest in order to be able to move towards a more equalized world.