Women’s economic autonomy during the COVID-19 pandemic

This article is a contribution to the debate on the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on
gender inequalities in Latin America and the Caribbean, with a focus on women’s
economic autonomy. Through a review of the contributions of feminist economics
and an analysis of the empirical evidence, it identifies a deterioration in the indicators
associated with women’s incomes and their participation in the labour market. The
sexual division of labour is deepening in the region, endangering the scant progress
made regarding women’s economic autonomy in the pre-crisis years. It warns about
gender biases in crisis mitigation policies and reflects on the importance of redistributing
time, resources and power to move towards a new style of development based on
gender equality and sustainability.