Empowering Women During Covid-19 Pandemic: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities for Informality

Gender inequality remains an important theme in global development conversation because women suffer from gender-related inequalities. Despite the increasing awareness of this problem due to decades of campaigns and interventions, the problem still persists. While the gender empowerment conversation has gained traction over the years with positive actions (e.g., SDGs) aiming to roll back the historical gender-related disadvantages suffered by women, the occurrence of socially disruptive events like the Covid-19 pandemic seems to be negatively impacting these gains. Covid-19 has created turmoil in the world, worsening the gender equality pursuit. Based on a review of empirical literature on Covid-19 and its associated impacts, this chapter presents a desk-based reflection on the economic and sociocultural dynamics that have perpetuated the systematic disempowerment of women. The chapter argues that in addition to basic empowerment programmes, more deliberate efforts should be put into creating an economic structure that empowers women.