Exposing Gender Inequalities: Impacts of Covid-19 on Aotearoa ǀ New Zealand Employment (2020)

Type of Content
Journal ArticleUC Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10092/101322Publisher
Auckland University of Technology (AUT) LibraryISSN
0110-06371179-2965
Collections
Abstract
This article outlines how the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbates economic and social gender inequalities in Aotearoa ǀ New Zealand. While this crisis highlights the central part played by women in the economy, the gender impacts of the pandemic are visible in connection to a decrease in job security and financial safety for female workers; to a rise in the duplication of paid and unpaid work; to an increase violence in and outside of homes; a heightened risk exposure to the virus and worse health outcomes. Not all women are equally positioned in this crisis, women of Māori and Pacific descent are disproportionately feeling the effects of the pandemic.
The two-prong, government’s recovery plan, which only partially ensures a fair and equal economic rebuild, is critically assessed. While the economic response fails to take a systematic gender approach, scope for challenging traditional gender assumptions is met head-on in relation to policy on violence against women. The article considers flexible working options and focuses on options for reframing employment law in a post-pandemic environment with a view to achieve and deliver equality between men and women through an intersectional lens.
Citation
Masselot A, Hayes M (2020). Exposing Gender Inequalities: Impacts of Covid-19 on Aotearoa ǀ New Zealand Employment. New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations. 45(2).This citation is automatically generated and may be unreliable. Use as a guide only.
Keywords
gender inequality; vulnerability; covid-19; abuse; violence; care; economic recovery biasANZSRC Fields of Research
44 - Human society::4405 - Gender studies::440599 - Gender studies not elsewhere classified
35 - Commerce, management, tourism and services::3505 - Human resources and industrial relations::350502 - Employment equity and diversity
44 - Human society::4410 - Sociology::441012 - Sociology of inequalities
38 - Economics::3801 - Applied economics::380111 - Labour economics
44 - Human society::4407 - Policy and administration::440703 - Economic development policy