Women are beginning to work as Latin America recovers from the epidemic

This is the third part of the FT series that examines the nature of the Covid-19 epidemic changed the labor market and changed the way millions think about work

Acute epidemic control in Mexico last year, Lorena Romero’s boss cut her off – and a single mother with two children is still struggling to regain her working life.

Romero wants to increase his hours and is looking for a variety of responsibilities – including household chores about two hours from his home. But the need to care for her young children, who have not yet gone to school regularly, makes it difficult to find suitable opportunities.

“I can’t do this kind of work right now; I have to be close to my kids. . . It’s been difficult, “said the 35-year-old girl from Mexico City.

Romero’s problem is similar to that of tens of millions of women in the past plague. While women-dominated sectors such as retailers and home-based care were affected by closures, many women lost their jobs. Many others lost their jobs or reduced their hours in order to cope with the demands of the house.

The economic downturn associated with Covid destroyed 4.2 percent of women’s jobs worldwide during the epidemic, compared to 3 percent of men, according to International Labor Organization, widening the gap between men and women worldwide as 43 percent of working-age women are employed, compared with 69 percent of men.

When “leaving” it’s all over western countries and in some places, such as Africa, the consequences are far more severe in Latin America.

There, women are still 2.6 times more likely than men to lose their jobs before and many leave the job market, according to a recent World Bank report. The vulnerability of women participating in the workforce is now worse than before the epidemic in almost all countries in the region.

Although the number of cases is low, Mexico has one of the highest mortality rates in the world and The economic recovery has been volatile.

“Recovery has been so limited that the opportunities are increasing,” said Ximena Del Carpio, leader of the World Bank’s Poverty Alleviation Group. The most vulnerable women in the area are women with small children.

Outside the capital, Mexico’s vaccination campaign has been slow and fair 50 percent of people in this country have enough vaccines.

One thing that really pushed women back Latin America then the region had the longest closure of schools in the world, according to UNESCO. Adding to the complexity is social norms in caring for children and household chores.

On average, a Mexican woman who works 40 hours a week can do so twice the amount of household chores as a man with a similar plan, according to INEGI statistics.

The lack of a reliable and affordable childcare market also means that Mexican women rely heavily on grandparents to care for children. But Covid-19 made family life even more difficult.

“Most people here depend on grandparents,” says Maribel Hernández, a lobster worker in the state of Tamaulipas in northern Mexico. During the epidemic, her ability to work depends on her parents caring for her son and the children of her disabled brother.

“If they [my parents] He can help, I go to work but if he can’t afford it I have to stay, ”she said, adding that day care centers are more affordable for women.

One studies show that when a Mexican grandmother dies in a family of three generations, her daughter’s chances of working are down by 12 percent.

“The issue of the care system in Mexico is important,” said Edgar Vielma Orozco, director of social studies at INEGI, referring to the reliance on grandparents to care for children. “Don’t rely on your mom to be at work, there has to be a way to take care of it.”

Argentina is a dangerous example. Prior to the epidemic, about 1.2m women, or 17 percent of workers, were employed in domestic work.

But after the Covid-19 crash, the capital Buenos Aires passed through some of the world’s most closed quarters, disrupting the economy and destroying jobs while families feared illness. As a result, 350,000 domestic workers were still unemployed by March, according to the ministry of women, gender and race.

“For those who work in private homes, job creation is a gradual decline in the number of companies,” including the most complex sectors such as hospitality, says Mercedes D’Alessandro, an Argentine economist and director of gender and government equality. of economics.

To improve the situation, the government has developed a program to provide financial assistance to cleaners and household workers.

Opponents say it only adds to the old responsibilities, but the Argentine government hopes to provide harder jobs for thousands of women.

In addition to resources, other resources in the area could include rehabilitation programs, access to income for women entrepreneurs and the care of dependable children, Del Carpio said.

“The [childcare] services may be available but can you put your child in a place where there is no supervisor? No, ”he said.

For women who are able to work from home, the rise in shift work during the epidemic has been bright. But for many Latin Americans this is not possible due to the low level of throat activity. As a result, home-based care is often more advanced than paid work.

For those who love Leticia Velázquez, it is difficult. In May he quit a Mexican factory job he had held for more than two decades in southwestern Oaxaca for fear of taking Covid and handing it over to his 84-year-old mother, who lives with him.

“We see our friends die,” the 56-year-old said, adding that even if he wanted to, his mother’s care was not the way to go. It costs a lot of money that, frankly, I don’t have.