The child is born with food to eat, but not from his mother's salary

The efforts of millions of women to make their way into the labor market have been threatened by the pandemic. In 2020,, a total of 14.3 million women in Latin America were unemployed, 1.7 million more than the 12.6 million in 2019, according to figures from the International Labor Organization (ILO).

The scenario is just as dramatic globally, given that the downturn in female employment was 5% compared to 3.9% for male employment, coupled with the ILO's warning in a recent report on the increase in domestic responsibilities arising from confinement due to the crisis, which has posed the risk of a “return to conventional standards” with regard to gender roles.

UN Women also sets off alarm bells by noting that progress with women's access to paid work has slowed down over the past 20 years. Less than two thirds of women (62%) aged 25-54 are in the labor force, compared to more than nine in ten (93%) men.

“As a global average, women accounted for 4.4% of general management positions in 2020, representing only 16.9% of board seats, just 25% of seats in national parliaments and accounting for only 13% of all people involved in peace negotiations,” said UN Women’s Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.

Maternity and employment

In addition to the health situation and its effects on the economy, there is a structural barrier: motherhood. A study by CAF–Development Bank of Latin America–, reveals that motherhood reduces the supply of female labor and favors more flexible occupational approaches, including part-time, self-employment and informal options. In addition, these effects occur immediately after childbirth and do not disappear in the medium or long term.

The study, which analyzes the career paths of mothers and fathers in Chile, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay, shows that the birth of a first child encourages occupations that allow greater flexibility in hours among women, but not among men. For example, motherhood increases part-time job rates for mothers by 16 to 29 percent in the medium term, depending on the country, and up to 43% percent in the longer term.

“The birth of the first child triggers a significant increase in self-employment and informal work for mothers, but not for fathers. In the medium term, self-employment for mothers remains between 17% and 42% above the rates prior to the birth of the children, while informality increases from between 16% and 50%, depending on the country analyzed,” says Dolores de la Mata, CAF's chief executive and co-author of the report.

The study shows that in countries where social norms on gender roles are more egalitarian or where there are better work-family reconciliation policies, the labor participation of mothers tends to be more similar to that of non-mothers, which is to say they reduce the cost of motherhood in the labor market.

“Promoting policies that foster co-responsibility at home, as well as those that allow for better work-life balance are key elements in promoting female participation in the labor force, thus improving the quality of women’s jobs and reducing gender gaps in wages,” adds Dolores de la Mata.

Prior to the pandemic, it was already difficult for a woman to access the labor market, and for those who succeeded, having a child meant that they could not guarantee keeping a full-time job, which thereby led them to part-time jobs or informality. Last year’s crisis has further unbalanced a situation that can only be stabilized with social commitment and effective policies in the medium term.