Working during Covid-19: gender inequality in figures

Women are predominantly employed in professions in contact with the public and were therefore more exposed to risks of contamination from the start of the health crisis. In addition, their workload has increased during lockdown and, for 43% of them, the closure of schools meant over 4 hours of extra housework.

The conclusions of a study by the CGT General Union of Engineers, Managers and Technicians, published on 5 May, on working conditions and the exercise of professional responsibility during lockdown shows that women were particularly exposed to risks during the health crisis (34,000 responses, including all employment status and professional sectors and of which 60% were non-union members).

Deterioration in working conditions

While women did not work “on site” more frequently than men, many more women said that they did “essential” work in front-line sectors during Covid-19, including healthcare, retail, the agri-food business and home care. 70% of them said that their usual activity was essential for the country, compared with 60% of men.

In these female-dominated sectors, work intensified during the health crisis, which explains why women were more concerned by the increase in workload (36% compared with 29% for men). Similarly, 55% of women saw a change in the content of their work during the crisis (compared with 43% of men) and 24% of them worked longer hours (compared with 20% of men).

There change in the content of on-site work is much more marked among essential jobs or those linked to demand: there were more changes to be made to working methods in jobs in retail sector, care and home care (compliance with Covid-19 safety instructions such as disinfection, etc.).

In addition, the majority of women in workers, employees and public service jobs were mainly involved in on-site work to ensure the continuity of public and private services.

Certain risk factors were identified in these contexts, however, such as contact with potentially contaminated equipment and working with numerous colleagues. The risk of direct contamination was therefore particularly high for women working in on-site jobs.

Women were in the majority in the health sector and in contact with the public (59% of women and 53% of men) and they more often went to places where there were people suffering fromCovid-19 (43% compared with 35% of men). More women also had to use public transport to go to work (14% compared with 11% of men).

Faced with these risks, employers’ protection and prevention measures were deemed insufficient. This led to anxiety: 45% of women (compared with 41% of men) said that they went to work “having your stomach in knots” for fear of contracting or transmitting the virus.

Women working on site experienced a strong emotional load linked to Covid-19: 18% (14% for men) suffered verbal aggression in connection with the crisis and 42% (26% for men) had to deal with conflicts or people in difficulty.

A greater mental load for women

According to France Stratégie, 3.9 million jobs were exposed to a risk of hyperconnectivity due to the Covid-19 crisis. Nearly one quarter of our survey respondents say that no measures were put in place by their employer: no IT equipment, telephones or software (an issue highlighted in particular among teachers, a profession which is predominately female).

Our survey also shows that more men received financial support for connection, telephone and software costs (17% of men compared with 13% of women). More men also said that they enjoyed the right to disconnect (23% of men compared with 20% of women) and fewer said there was a lack of regular support from their superiors (34% of men compared with 37% of women).

Teleworking therefore led to a deterioration in working conditions: more women said they did not have a quiet place from which to work (26% of women and 20% of men). There is a correlation with childcare: 44% of women with children under 16 years old said that they were unable to work in peace and quiet, compared with only 31% of men.

For 82% of parents with young children, there was no reduction in workload due to the presence of their children. More women than men experienced a dual constraint of teleworking and looking after their children during lockdown (87% compared with 76% of men). This is explained in particular by the fact that more women live alone with children, and that in couples, their spouse works more often on site.

In addition, the Acemo-Covid survey carried out by the Dares during the lockdown in April 2020 showed that, all things being equal in terms of access to teleworking, those who took sick leave for childcare were mainly women (70%).

55% of women and 35% of men said that they developed musculoskeletal pain due to insufficient technical and ergonomic equipment provided by their employer. Mental health risks were also higher. While on average employees said they felt a sense of autonomy and freedom (42% of respondents), this was less true for women (38% for women and 47% for men, especially in large private-sector companies).

Lastly, 38% of women working from home (and 29% of men) complained of unusual anxiety. Parents who had to look after children at the same time as working were more anxious (38%), a figure that was even higher for women (44% compared with 34% for men), arguably due to a greater mental load.

This data corroborates a survey carried out among approximately 2,000 employees between 31 March and 8 April 2020, which showed that more women working from home experienced a high level of distress. This was the case for 22% of women compared with 14% of men. The survey explains this difference by a greater mental load and accumulation of roles among female employees.

Family life under strain

Among parents of children under 16 who continued working, 43% of women and 26% of men said they spent more than 4 additional hours a day looking after their children. This situation affected teleworking women more than men (47%, compared with just 26 % for men) who, if their job was teleworkable, were not entitled to “childcare” leave.

In addition, the lockdown generated tensions and violence within couples: 20% of respondents said the lockdown caused tension in their relationship. This figure was even higher among couples where both partners were at home, either inactive or teleworking (23%).

Having children under the age of 16 is an aggravating factor, probably because of the daily strain of the extra domestic tasks involved. When the couple were both at home and they had at least one child under the age of 16, 28% experienced tensions compared with 18% among couples with no children under 16.

Worse, 14% of respondents who reported tensions also mentioned violence (physical and/or verbal). This figure rises to 18% when the couple were both inactive at home during lockdown.

Overall, 2% of respondents said that the lockdown led to violent behaviour (physical or verbal) by their partner.