'Negative consequences of gender inequality have doubled for women during pandemic'

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The Birleşik Metal-İş union has conducted a survey among workers about working conditions during the coronavirus pandemic.

"The pandemic has been a period in which the negative consequences of gender inequality have doubled, especially for women workers," says the report titled, "Covid-19 and Paid Woman Labor."

Here are highlights from the report:

• While the proportion of men whose working order has not changed is 40.7 percent this rate is 19 percent among women. The working order of 81 percent of women employees has changed.
• 23 percent of the women stated that they were working short-time, 27.4 percent said they were going to work alternately and 8.4 percent said they were on paid casual leave.
• While 10.6 percent of women said they switched to working from home, this rate was 2.3 for men.
• With short-time work and unpaid leave becoming widespread, there has been a decrease in average weekly working hours. According to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) data, the average weekly working time of women decreased from 39.5 hours to 35.4 hours, while the average working time of men decreased from 47.1 hours to 41.3 hours. The calculation by DİSK-AR based on the July 2020 TurkStat data also shows that women had to withdraw from employment more than men during the pandemic.
• The difference between the workforce participation rate of men and women has increased during the pandemic period. In April 2019, the workforce participation rate for men was 71.8 for men and 34.5 percent for women. In April 2020, men's participation rate dropped to 65.5 percent while women's participation rate decreased to 29.2.
• The decrease in employment figures was also similar. In April 2019, men's employment rate was 63.2. It dropped to 57.2 in April 2020. Women's employment rate dropped 25.3 percent in 2020 from 29.2 percent in April 2019.
• Women in the service sector have been the most affected by the pandemic.

The additional burden on women

"This special study conducted among the women members of the Birleşik Metal-İş Union in the metal industry, which is a male-dominated field of work, also reveals the additional burden that the Covid-19 period puts on the shoulders of women workers," said the report.

"The epidemic period has once again demonstrated how important organizations unions are for workers. This study also tangibly shows the benefits of being a union member for workers and women workers."

A woman worker told the union that "The advantages of being unionized were enormous because the requests of the representatives were enforced."

"450 blue-collar and 200 white-collar workers work in our factory. There are 23 chronic patients; 15 of them are women and eight are men. I am the [union's] chief representative in the factory. I myself am also chronically ill. Chronic patients, including me, were on paid leave for three months. Workers used paid administrative leave for about four months, including annual leave in the last 15 days of June. An application for partial work was made for 250 workers in the workplace. 180 people continued to work." (EMK/VK)