How can we ensure gender gaps among small business owners don't grow?

Join us at the March 29th (10:00 a.m. EST) on the OECD webinar, Women's entrepreneurship and COVID-19: How can we ensure the gender gap doesn't grow?

Register at https://bit.ly/3sBYma8

In spring 2020, agencies such as the OECD were reporting on the disproportionate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on women, including women entrepreneurs. By fall 2020, The International Labour Organization reported that 40% of all employed women (510 million women) are employed in the ‘hard-hit’ sectors, compared to 37% of employed men -- sectors such as, accommodation / food services, real estate, business / administrative activities, manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade.

As data about the gender-regressive impacts of the pandemic continued to surface, UN Women, W20 and other international organizations called for gender-sensitive policies to support women entrepreneurs. McKinsey Global Institute (2020) estimates that “gender-blind responses’ will dilute $1 trillion in global GDP.

As economies enter a third-wave of the pandemic, most relief measures do not address the particular needs of women entrepreneurs, including within under-represented groups. The UN Gender Response Tracker, for example, reports that only 10% of COVID-19 response measures globally are specifically designed to provide economic support to women.

Blunt policy measures have consequences: the reduction in women’s economic security, reversing progress towards gender equality, and slowing economic growth. PwC’s Women in Work Index, an index that measures women economic empowerment across 33 OECD countries, reports that progress of "women in work" benchmarks to 2017. The Index has fallen 2.1 points between 2019 and 2021 and is not expected to begin recovery until 2022. Even then, progress is expected to be stilted.

It is time to hold governments to enact inclusive small business recovery policies. To inform policy, here are three informative roadmaps:

• W20 Call to Action for Gender Equality in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic (March 2020)
• A Feminist Economic Recovery Plan for Canada:Making the Economy Work for Everyone (July 2020)
• International Monetary Fund, Gender Equality and Inclusive Growth (March 2021)