“The pandemic has hit the community hard, but the impact is even greater for women,” said Sri Mulyani Indrawati at a webinar co-organized by United Nations Women and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday, as quoted by tempo.co.

She elaborated that the global health crisis had particularly impacted the hospitality and home industries.

According to the “Women Leaders’ Virtual Roundtable on COVID-19 and the Future” held by UN Women and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on April 21, the majority of the hospitality industry’s workforce is female, with women comprising 54 percent of the 75 million workers at restaurant and hotels.

Meanwhile, according to Sri Mulyani, female employees had seen their working hours cut by 50 percent, whereas male employees only saw a 35 percent cut in their working hours. The minister added that globally, 740 million female informal workers had experienced a 60 percent decline in income in the first month after the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic.

The health crisis had also added to women’s burdens even as their incomes continued to decline, with many women having to juggle their professional responsibilities alongside household chores and increased parental responsibilities, as they could no longer afford child care services.

“They may be able to work from home, but at the same time, they must take care of their children. So they have household chores [piling up] while they work,” said Sri Mulyani.

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