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Economic Well-being of Men and Women in Three Countries (i.e., Italy, Greece and Spain)

under the Epidemic

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Introduction

The COVID-19 crisis has deeply impacted women, men, girls, boys, and other genders

differently. While men make up the majority of those who have died from the virus, women and

girls bear the brunt of disproportionate care burdens, disruptions in income and education, poor

access to health and other essential services, greater risk of being dispossessed of land and

property, and gender digital and pay gaps (Heise, et al., 2020). For women already living in

poverty, these impacts can shock their economic stability overall and impede their ability to

purchase critical necessities, such as medicine and food. In this study, the emphasis is laid on

analyzing the economic well-being of men and women in three countries: Italy, Greece, and

Spain, during the epidemic.

Women's employment in the health sector disproportionately exposes them to COVID-

19. Women comprise about 70% of global health care workers and are front and center to

exposure to COVID-19 and stigma within their communities for working near COVID patients.

Additionally, the gender pay gap in the global health workforce is 11%; lower pay means

decreased ability to purchase necessary supplies or access care (Wenham et al., 2020).

Undervaluing women's work hurts women and healthcare systems, and under-investment holds

systems back from preparedness in times of crisis.

Unemployment and women's overrepresentation in the informal sector heightens their

vulnerabilities during crises. The International Labor Organization estimates that 195 million

jobs could be eliminated globally due to the pandemic, with most sectors predominated by

women. Furthermore, over 740 million women worldwide work in the informal sector, and as

low-wage workers, vi employment that is vulnerable to elimination due to COVID-19 and often

lacks protections against exploitation and harassment (Wenham, Smith, Morgan, 2020).
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Migrant women working in non-essential service industries such as food service and

hospitality and domestic workers in predominantly female-heavy sectors (e.g., housekeeping,

childcare) are particularly vulnerable to being laid off or exploited for labor during COVID-19.

Furthermore, the 26% gender gap in labor force participation now seems to be widening further,

and the U.S. Department of Labor reported in April 2020 that women held 60% of the 700k jobs

eliminated in the U.S. so far COVID-19.

Women and adolescent girls take on disproportionate care burdens with negative impacts

on their economic empowerment. Due to social norms, women already perform 76.2% of the

total hours of unpaid care work, more than three times as much as men (Operario, Adler and

Williams, 2022). During public health crises such as COVID-19, care burdens dramatically

increase to include caring for the sick, vulnerable elderly family members, and home children

due to school closures. This exposes women and girls to contracting the virus from infected

family members and reduces time spent on generating an income, operating a business, or other

economic activity.

The disproportionate impacts on women due to COVID-19 threaten the stability of food

security in the developing world. Women comprise on average 43% of the agricultural workforce

in developing countries and are estimated to account for two-thirds of the world's 600 million

poor livestock keepers (Cousins 2020). Limits to global food supply could require countries to

focus on domestic production, which puts women at a greater economic disadvantage as their

land rights are already less secure globally. 

Additionally, this will likely increase the risk of violence and exploitation by male

sharecroppers and credit services in countries where social norms restrict women from

harvesting their land. If field laborers cannot travel to farms to assist in planting, weeding, and
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harvesting, this could lead to increased labor demands for women and girls, which compound

already high household care burdens (Ladi and Dimitris, 2020). In addition, many women sell

agricultural products in local and informal markets; as markets close due to the COVID-19 crisis,

women will experience further losses in income.

Gender wage gaps across roles and sectors can negatively affect women's ability to

purchase necessities and engage in COVID19 prevention and response efforts. Globally women

earn 24% less than men do, with women's wages being lower than men's and women

experiencing wage gaps for identical roles and different occupations of equal value (Hynes et al.,

2020). Lower pay means many women will have reduced ability to purchase necessary supplies

needed to engage in preventative activities around COVID-19, purchase household necessities,

or access crucial healthcare services – especially when access to affordable health services is

already limited.

The gender digital divide will negatively affect women's ability to receive vital support

and services or adapt businesses or roles as employees to social distancing constraints. On

average, women are 14% less likely to own mobile phones than their male counterparts and 43%

less likely to engage online. This will result in women's inability to access critical cash transfers

and other financial services via digital platforms currently being prioritized by governments in

light of social distancing measures (Jimeno, Llorens and Àlex, 2021). 

The digital divide can also lead to challenges for women to engage in distance learning,

for women entrepreneurs to transition to e-commerce platforms and opportunities, and for

women employees to engage in remote work necessary to maintain their jobs. Additionally, the
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digital gender gap will impact girls' remote learning opportunities, while those who do connect

online face increased risks of online harassment, abuse, and sexual exploitation.

Resources diverted from existing services during this crisis will negatively impact women's

health, raising economic implications. To respond to urgent health needs resulting from the

COVID-19 pandemic, resources will be diverted away from ongoing programs supporting

lifesaving health services. Additionally, access to services is hindered by overwhelmed health

systems. This is compounded by women's loss of income, leading to decreased ability to access

available health care. 

These factors impede women and girls from achieving the highest possible standard of

care. When chronic and non-COVID-related health concerns persist, this will have strong

implications for women's and girls' health and well-being, particularly for those with underlying

medical conditions such as the elderly and persons living with disabilities (Ayati, Saiyarsarai and

Nikfar, 2020). Poor health is inextricably tied to women's and girls' ability to participate in

economic activity and puts further strain on already overburdened infrastructure.

Although the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is still emerging, early

evidence suggests that the pandemic is likely to hit women disproportionately hard. The impact

on women is likely to exceed that of past crises because of COVID-19 safety measures and to

affect many sectors with a larger share of female employees. The crisis is likely to have a

particularly negative impact on women in low-income countries.

This information note explores why the economic impact is likely to affect women

disproportionately. Travel restrictions and border closures have severely affected trade in

services, especially in sectors dependent on people traveling abroad, such as tourism.2 In

manufacturing, the disruption of business travel and the lockdown have had a particularly large
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impact on sectors dependent on global value chains and season-sensitive sectors in which many

women work, such as textiles and clothing (Roper and Turner, 2020).

Keeping international markets open during the COVID-19 pandemic has been crucial in

providing affordable access to essential food and medical products. The pandemic has also

highlighted how the temporary movement of healthcare workers, of whom many are women, has

particularly helped the most affected countries to deal with the crisis. Maintaining open markets

during the recovery period is key to building faster, more inclusive growth.

As economies emerge from the pandemic crisis, governments may find economic

recovery strengthened if they specifically address the constraints faced by women. For example,

in some sectors, teleworking has proved to be a tool to mitigate the impact of the crisis, but

access to digital connections and IT skills rates are much lower for women in certain economies.

In addition, lower financial resources and inequality of access to public funds put the survival of

women's businesses at greater risk.

There are a few major reasons that account for women's unequal economic suffering

during Covid. First, there were pre-existing systemic inequalities in place before Covid. Second,

women are more likely to be unemployed in industries that have had the most layoffs and

furloughs, such as travel and leisure, hospitality, and educational services, which fell by at least

15 percent over the past several months and show no sign of revival. Third, women perform 75

percent of the world's total unpaid care, including childcare and home activities like cooking and

cleaning. Covid has exposed gender inequalities that have always existed in the workplace and at

home.

The biggest reason why women have faced a significant disadvantage in this economy is

that they are stuck with more childcare, teaching, and homework without clear boundaries and
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time off. The coronavirus childcare crisis will set women back a generation" because there's been

a decline in child care services, leaving women to take on those responsibilities. Since the

begging of Covid, one-fourth of child care providers have lost their jobs (Demir, Dalgic &

Ergen, 2021). And, during this recession, not every family can afford the limited childcare

services that exist, especially when they are more costly and with limited hours now. 

In Italy, it is stipulated that the gender norms across the economy are organized and

structured in such a way where at least one woman out of two remains unemployed. In some

situations, such women are not actively looking for employment. It can be Already in the years

before the pandemic, Italy's women's labor participation rate was 56.5% in the age group 20-64,

representing one of the lowest in the EU. As in the rest of Europe, however, Italy's COVID-19

crisis has also turned into a 'she-cession,' as reflected in the fact that women's employment rate in

the age group 15-64 decreased from 50.2% to 49.5% throughout 2020 and then hit a record low

of 47.5% during the second quarter 2020.

Like other member states, Italian women have also been at the core of the fight against

the pandemic, which has contributed to bringing salience to the care economy – both formal and

informal – and the low salaries that characterize this sector. According to the Italian Ministry of

 Health, already in 2017, 66.8% of health workers were women, and the personnel of every

regional healthcare system was composed of a majority of women.

Despite being overrepresented in the frontline of the pandemic, counting with an increased risk

of contagion and following an EU trend,

 Italian women lacked decision-making power during the crisis. In fact, when women in

healthcare are divided into professions, women account for less than half of medical doctors, and

the share increases to 77.5% when looking at nurses.

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Despite the fact there is a minority of women who have been economically protected by

being employed in the frontline, women in Italy have also been overrepresented in the service

sectors, which have been negatively impacted by lockdown and social distancing measures.

Apart from having one of the lowest female employment rates in Europe, Italy also counts with

one of the largest proportions of women working in the services sector, 84.6% of all employed

women. 

It can be analyzed that 444,000 total job losses incurred in Italy in 2020, 72.9%

concerned women. Due to a redundancy ban implemented by the Italian government, these job

losses can nevertheless be solely attributed to the non-renovation of fixed-term contracts and

other relatively vulnerable employment contracts (i.e., part-time, temporary work), which are

most likely granted to female workers. According to recent estimates, relative poverty increased

relatively more for Italian women than their male counterparts.

Such regional variations exist within the EU; the COVID-19 crisis has also impacted

Italy inconsistently. Italy's female unemployment figures hide striking within-country

inequalities. While in Northern and Central Italy, women's employment rates are higher than the

average – 59% and 56%, respectively – the South is characterized by a strikingly low 33%

female employment rate. This alternatively means that women in the South of Italy suffer a

higher likelihood of being poor than their counterparts who live in the country's Northern

regions. The South seems to have recuperated faster than the rest of Italy, however, with the

female employment rate increasing to pre-pandemic years at the end of 2020 (Zuleeg &

European Policy Centre, 2020).

In the Spanish context, women lost jobs more than men in the period between October

2019 and June 2020, when the employment recovery rate recorded in the third quarter of 2020
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was higher for the men in a situation that led to the increased gender gap. In terms of

employment, the impact of the pandemic varies significantly across industries. The previous

economic crisis (which affected certain sectors – such as the construction industry - particularly

had) narrowed the gender unemployment gap (Vidakovic & Lovrinovic, 2021). Employment

rates in some sectors, such as the financial and insurance industries or Public Administrations,

are more resilient than in other fields of activity, such as the arts or services like trade, transport,

and hospitality.

Four sectors account for over 50 percent of female jobs: commerce, hospitality,

education, and healthcare and social services, which were directly involved in the impact of the

pandemic. Although, for the time being, COVID-19 maintains the representativeness of men and

women in the sectors as a whole, a composition effect can be observed in employed women, who

have seen their weight decline in the hospitality industry (Andreosso-O'Callaghan, Mun & Son,

2022). In contrast, it has risen in healthcare and social services. Furthermore, the worst-

performing sectors in terms of employment are where women's participation has increased the

most (except in the case of hospitality).

In this sense, education has a huge impact on opportunities to land and keep a job, and it

contributes to reducing the representativeness differences between population and occupation.

Education is more important for women: gender differences in unemployment rates decline in

higher education tiers. This indicates that education becomes a defining element for workers,

especially for women (Vidakovic & Lovrinovic, 2021). The gender gap in the illiterate group is

19.55 percentage points, and in higher education groups, this difference drops to 1.2 percentage

points.
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On average, focusing on digital-intensive sectors, women are less represented in the

digital economy than in the whole of Spain (42.7 percent vs. 46.3 percent), with significant

disparities between activities. The digital economy performed slightly better during COVID-19

than the average for Spain, especially in activities related to services. Before the pandemic (INE,

2019), these sectors accounted for more than 17 percent of Spain's gross added value and 17

percent of total employment.

The prevalence of permanent contracts is also higher across digital industries and female

employees holding higher education degrees are also more likely to have a permanent contract in

these sectors. The interest in increasing the presence of women in traditionally male-dominated

fields of knowledge (such as in the so-called STEM careers) will be more sustainable as far as

this interest fits with the needs expressed by companies (Buti, 2021).

In addition to training, the study notes the possibility of improving gender diversity in the

job market beyond knowledge. These training needs are a core element within the requirements

of companies in their job offerings, but not the only ones. Other requirements that are becoming

increasingly relevant include the development of abilities, skills, or ways of working, the so-

called 'soft skills.

According to OECD data, while in Spain as a whole, companies demand by intensity a

mixed range of factors between these four areas (training, skills, abilities, and ways of

working), in the case of companies in the digital economy, there is a clear predominance of ways

of working, except administrative activities and support services, where knowledge-related

factors predominate. Among the most demanded skills within the ways of working are

awareness, achievement orientation, adaptability, and independence (Demir, Dalgic & Ergen,

2021).
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Therefore, the report concludes that a higher training and educational background boosts

resilience and improves an individual's employment prospects, even during the pandemic. A

more relevant conclusion in the case of women when it comes to reducing gender differences in

employment. Improving other education-related factors, such as skills, abilities, and ways of

working, can be a powerful tool to cope with the impact of COVID-19 on employment.

In the study undertaken by Hupkau and Victoria (2020), it is indicated that the impact of

the pandemic on the employment of women and men, as well as an increase in non-market

production, was catastrophic. The data utilized is derived from the available Spanish data, where

there is the provision of the classification of the locked-down and critical sectors during the

period of the quarantine. The emphasis is laid on the estimation of the degree to which

teleworking can be attained in the Spanish context.

It is further indicated that women are more likely than their male counterparts to have

experienced job losses since the pandemic since they were overrepresented in the locked-down

sectors. Moreover, the quarantine led to the division of childcare and home obligations

responsibilities. Women, in some cases, became the sole providers of childcare which became

the norm during the pandemic. 

The data had also indicated that more than two-thirds of the female population stayed at

home at the time when social distancing was enforced. These women had to stay at home either

because they were working in the non-critical sectors or maybe did not have work at all. It can be

noted that these women had to undertake the majority of the additional tasks in the movie, which

helped in the reinforcement of the gender roles and led to the harming of the long-term job

prospects based on the loss of human capital. 

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Analysis of the situation of the Spanish couples leads to the understanding that 13 percent

of them that have dependent children indicates that fathers became the main providers of

childcare. They had partners that were working in the critical jobs that called for the need to

ensure that work continued during the quarantine. It can be noted, however, that 44 percent of

the mothers working in critical jobs also had partners in the same lines of work (Demir, Dalgic &

Ergen, 2021).  

The closing of children's facilities and schools led to the situation where the majority of

mothers were forced to operate in situations where they had to reduce their working hours. Some

requested leaves of absence to care for their children. Moreover, 10 percent of such mothers did

not have partners, and they had to stay at home unless they had the arrangements that facilitated

the informal childcare arrangements. The mitigation of such inequalities called for the need to

focus on the use of the cash transfers meant to benefit the households adversely affected. 

Methodology

The fact that COVID-19 is a pandemic emerging in real-time whose data was being

continuously collected and availed for the required analysis and affected by the publication

delays, the most logical aspect that could be adopted in this context is insisting that insisting on

having a methodology that is multi-method. The first approach was to focus on scanning the

journal databases and other sources, which led to the establishment of the various peer-reviewed

academic publications that were available. Secondly, there was the focus on the grey literature

reviewed via the compilations facilitated by the various individuals and organizations that had

been collecting the data concerning the pandemic.

It is a situation that brought on board the focus on the facilitation of the collecting the

necessary evidence on the gender effects of COVID-19. Secondly, there has been an emphasis on
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the econometric methods that dwell on the analysis of the data obtained from the World Bank

and the international labor organizations (ILO), among other viable sources. It is the data that has

been identified, collected, and eventually used to facilitate the analysis and interpret the whole

situation moving forward. 

Various variables have been used in the study to develop the most desirable outcomes

that are in line with the appropriate requirements. The regressions have been done based on the

data that has been obtained in Italy, Spain, and Greece. The values of output, consumer price

index (CPI), and unemployment rate have all been included in the model. The independent

variable in the study is the CPI, while the dependent one is the unemployment rate.

Results

Table 1: Spain

SUMMARY OUTPUT

Regression Statistics
0.8615419
Multiple R 1
0.7422544
R Square 7
Adjusted R 0.6778180
Square 9
2168.8733
Standard Error 5
Observations 11

ANOVA
Significanc
  df SS MS F eF
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54186369. 11.519182 0.0044133

Regression 2 108372739 5 7 1
4704011.6
Residual 8 37632093 3
Total 10 146004832      

Coefficient Standard Upper

  s Error t Stat P-value Lower 95% 95%
51149.299 3439.8727 14.869532 4.1234E- 43216.939 59081.660
Intercept 8 2 7 07 1 5
407.90779 616.77332 0.6613577 1830.1896
X Variable 1 3 7 1 0.5269677 -1014.374 3
- 166.08371 - 0.0013771 -
X Variable 2 795.14868 3 4.7876379 4 -1178.1384 412.15895

The regression analysis is made to analyze the impacts of CPI and unemployment rate.

The coefficient of CPI is 407.90, which is a positive value. It indicates that the higher CPI leads

to the higher GDP. In addition, the slope of unemployment is positive. It shows that when the

unemployment rate is higher, the output value will be higher.

The p value of the unemployment rate is 0.5, which is a high value. The high p-value

shows that the variable is not significant. In other words, the higher of the unemployment rate

does not necessarily leads to the higher output value.

The result of the regression is the same to the logical that learned in the economy. When

the CPI is higher, the output value will be higher, as the output value is in nominal value. The

higher the price level will leads to the higher GDP. However, in a way, the higher unemployment

rate will reduce GDP, as when more people are hired, the output value should be larger.
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Table 2: Italy

SUMMARY OUTPUT

Regression Statistics
0.1571399
Multiple R 6
0.0246929
R Square 7
Adjusted R -
Square 0.2191338
3799.8513
Standard Error 9
Observations 11

ANOVA
Significanc
  df SS MS F eF
2924523.7 1462261.8 0.1012725 0.9048267
Regression 2 6 8 9 3
14438870.
Residual 8 115510964 6
Total 10 118435488      

Coefficient Standard Upper

  s Error t Stat P-value Lower 95% 95%
41718.676 9058.5459 4.6054496 0.0017429 20829.632 62607.721
Intercept 8 2 2 9 5 2
- 1300.7082 - 0.6946412 2469.9789
X Variable 1 529.45962 2 0.4070549 7 -3528.8982 3
- 806.63937 - 0.8207566 1671.2466
X Variable 2 188.86709 1 0.2341407 1 -2048.9808 3
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Here is the regression result on the data of Italy. The dependent variable is output, and the

independent variable is CPI and unemployment rate. The R of the regression is 15.7%. It means

that only 15.7% of the dependent variable can be explained by the independent variable. There

are 11 observations in the regression.

The annual data of GDP, unemployment rate and CPI are included from 2010 to 2011.

The difference between this regression to the previous regression is that the p value for the two

independent variables are both higher than 0.7.

The higher of the p value means that the independent variable will not necessarily change

the independent variable. It means that the change of CPI and unemployment rate do not

necessarily leads to the change of GDP. The slope of CPI is 529 and the slope of unemployment

rate is 188. Both of the two slopes are positive.

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Table 3: Greece

SUMMARY OUTPUT

Regression Statistics
0.7074462
Multiple R 8
0.5004802
R Square 3
Adjusted R 0.3756002
Square 9
1318.1835
Standard Error 9
Observations 11

ANOVA
Significanc
  df SS MS F eF
6963796.0 4.00769
Regression 2 13927592.1 7 1 0.06226023
1737607.9
Residual 8 13900863.8 7
Total 10 27828455.9      

Coefficient Standard Upper

  s Error t Stat P-value Lower 95% 95%
32547.092 16.081801 2.24E- 37214.090
Intercept 8 2023.84617 7 07 27880.0952 5
0.08271 108.89139
X Variable 1 -667.49402 336.679976 -1.9825771 8 -1443.8794 4
X Variable 2 -222.80969 91.1882734 -2.4434028 0.04035 -433.09022 -12.52915
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The third regression is done over the data of Greece. The values of output, CPI, and

unemployment rate are included in the regression. The R of the regression is 0.7, which means

that 70% of the GDP can be explained by the change in CPI and unemployment rate. The slope

of CPI is 667, and the slope of the unemployment rate is 222. The directions of the impacts of

the two variables are the same as the results shown in the previous two regressions output.

The p-value of the first variable is 0.08. It means that there is a 92% possibility that the

independent variable can present the independent variable. In addition, the p-value of the second

variable is 0.04, which is even less than 5%. The low p-value means that the dependent variable

is significant, and there is enough evidence to show that CPI and the unemployment rate can

impact the change in the GDP.

When discussing the impact of the pandemic on the wellbeing in those three countries,

the analyst can work on the analysis of the change in GDP, CPI, and unemployment rate during

the pandemic period. The analysts can check how those factors change to find how the pandemic

impacts the well beings.

Discussion

COVID-19 has exposed the vulnerabilities associated with the world's economic systems.

It can be realized that recovery prospects will depend on how fast the virus can be contained and

whether the economic and social policy responses can prevent long-term damage to economies,

livelihoods, and capabilities and build resilience to future shocks and crises. The collective

response must build sustainable economies and reduce inequalities between and within countries.
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Prioritizing measures to guarantee women's basic economic and social rights has never been

more urgent.

The results that have been obtained in the analysis undertaken in this context lead to the

understanding that women have been more severely affected from the economic points of view

than their male counterparts. Women's access to income is less secure. Past pandemics have had

disproportionate and lasting effects on women's work and livelihoods. During the Ebola crisis in

2014, mobility restrictions and other prevention measures severely affected the livelihoods of

women traders in West Africa (Clark et al., 2019).

While men's economic activity returned to pre-crisis levels shortly after such measures

were lifted, the effect on women's economic security lasted much longer. The COVID-19 crisis

is likewise anticipated to hit women's unemployment rates hard, especially in the most

vulnerable economies. In many countries, the first round of layoffs has been particularly acute in

the services sector, including retail, hospitality, and tourism, where women are overrepresented

(ILO, 2020)

Part-time and temporary workers, the majority of whom are also women, are expected to

suffer dramatic job losses due to COVID-19 impacts; and, even in developed countries, they

often lack access to job preservation schemes such as short-term work or job sharing and

unemployment benefits (Alon et al., 2020). This is of particular concern, given that fewer women

than men can access the banking system to build up a cushion of savings.
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The economic ramifications of COVID-19 have been particularly acute for women and

girls. Existing gender inequalities are likely to deepen in its wake, especially for women and girls

of ethnic, racial, and national minorities who are already marginalized (Gould and Wilson, 2020.

Without an intentionally gendered response, the COVID-19 crisis risks rolling back gains in

women's income security and social protection, thus constraining their ability to support

themselves and their families.

In the cases of Greece and Spain, it has been observed that most employed women are in

the informal economy with little or no social protection than is the case in Italy. 15 This means

that they have fewer fallback options in the case of job loss due to illness or COVID-19

containment measures. The situation, according to Boniol et al. (2019), is particularly dire in

low-income countries, where 92 percent of women are informally employed (compared to 87

percent of men) and overrepresented in particularly vulnerable occupations: (unpaid)

contributing family workers in small-scale farming or family businesses, market or street

vending, home-based own-account work and domestic service. To earn a living, these workers

often depend on public space and social interactions that are now being restricted to contain the

spread of the pandemic.

The three countries in this context can lead to the understanding that countries around the

world are working to contain the spread and impact of COVID-19 (coronavirus). Evidence from

outbreaks similar to COVID-19 indicates that women and girls can be affected in particular ways

and, in some areas, face more negative impacts than men. In fact, there is a risk that gender gaps

could widen during and after the pandemic and that gains in women's and girls' accumulation of

human capital, economic empowerment, and voice and agency built over the past decades could
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be reversed. The World Bank Group is working to ensure that projects responding to COVID-19

consider the pandemic's different impacts on men and women.

One of the areas in which women have been disproportionally affected compared to men

is in counting equal access to the economy. The difference has been greater in those member

states which did not prioritize gender mainstreaming in the years before the pandemic or which

did not account for gender differentials in the measures applied to halt the spread of the earlier

pandemic. Overall, in Europe, women have tended to be overrepresented in the frontline of the

pandemic and also in the services sector, which has been particularly affected by the current

crisis. This has translated into an increase in female unemployment rates and thus a higher

likelihood of poverty for women in the three sleeted countries with the European Union (EU).

Women have also tended to partake in a disproportionate amount of uncompensated

childcare work, even if enforced lockdowns have meant that men increased their household

participation in comparison to the years prior to the pandemic. This re-arrangement of family

relations represents an opportunity for change in the future in which household and childcare

tasks could become more equally divided and thus permit women to increase their participation

in the labor market.

Conclusion

Women across Italy, Greece, and Spain have suffered much from the economic wellbeing

perspective during the pandemic than their male counterparts. Even though not all women have

been equally affected, however. Apart from experiencing divergent situations in different

member states, the women group is also divided according to other demographic pillars. Lower-

income and lower-skilled women tend to encounter themselves in a vicious cycle of systematic
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poverty. Older women and single women now also face greater prospects of poverty. With this

information in mind and gathering the lessons learned from the COVID-19 crisis, the research

leads to the understanding that governments and their agencies have to concentrate their efforts

on addressing the plight of women and men. There is the need to ensure that all the three

European governments implement proactive – rather than reactive – public policy solutions in

preparation for future crises. Women have also been underrepresented in COVID-19 decision-

making bodies, even though the inclusion of women in policymaking and leadership positions

results in increased efforts towards successful measures to reduce gender gaps and mainstream

gender into relief policies.

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