Women and Covid-19 are much more affected than men. This is due to work, living conditions, and violence.

The pandemic is making Goal 5 of the UN Sustainable Development Agenda, gender equality, increasingly unattainable. In reality, the gap with the virus is growing sharply.

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COVID WOMEN

When I read that women have been penalized much more than men From Covid-19, I confess I didn't want to believe it. I had doubts. Then I looked at the facts one by one, and the conclusions I'm really disarming.

COVID WOMEN

The pandemic, in the absence of targeted interventions, will only further widen the gap between men and women, in all fields, and will drag down the goal number 5 of theUN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, the one on gender equality, in the hell of unattainable dreams.

ALSO READ: Covid, the Italian vaccine ReiThera: it will be single-dose and easily stored.

WOMEN PENALIZED BY COVID-19

Women had the first blow from the lockdown at work. Starting out already at a very disadvantage. Let us remember, in fact, that in the world 94 percent of men between 25 and 54 years of age work, and 63 percent of women in the same age group. What happened with the pandemic? Layoffs have been halted, but fixed-term contracts are being dropped, and self-employment has entered a high-risk zone. According to research by Fwave of labor consultants' studies 55,9 percent of the jobs lost in these age groups concern women. When the blocking of layoffs, women will always suffer the greatest repercussions. And they will be the ones to pay the price of a decline in wages, which already today, in Europe, show a 15 percent gender gap. With a paradox: the more women study, the greater the wage gap with men.

In fact, if a male graduate earns 32,6 percent more than a high school graduate, for a female graduate the the gap is only 14,3 percent.

WOMEN PENALIZED BY THE PANDEMIC

The second area in which women are penalised by Covid 19 is that of houseworkHere too we start from a abysmal disparity: 4,1 hours of housework a day are assigned to women; only 1,7 hours to men. Family care, both one's own and the family of origin, homeschooling for children, job insecurity: the coronavirus has worsened the living conditions of 52,5 percent of women and only 45,2 percent of men. Another growing gap.

selfishness is over

Finally the front of the violence, which brings dire news for women. Istat (National Institute of Statistics) performed some calculations based on calls to the Department of Equal Opportunities' toll-free number 1522 between March (the start of the pandemic) and October. The result: requests for help increased by 71,7 percent compared to the same period last year. This figure is also confirmed by the 65,7 percent increase in calls to anti-violence centers.

When you take stock, the conclusion is far more than disheartening. Women are doubly affected by Covid-19. As individuals, with the risks they share with men. As mothers, daughters, workers, with the risks they face only as women.

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