Submission ID 118436
| Issue/Objective | The COVID pandemic has had a well documented adverse effect on the gender gap in labor market outcomes globally. We study this effect in the case of Egyptian, where female labor force participation was low and declining even before the pandemic. The objective is to determine whether the adverse effect on female employment is primarily due to the added childcare burden during COVID. |
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| Methodology/Approach | Data from Egyptian Labor Force Surveys (2017-2021) are used to analyze the trends over time in the gender gap in the employment rate, weekly hours worked, and labor earnings. A difference-in-differences (DD) linear regression measures the COVID effect on gender gaps. A triple difference (DDD) regression separates out the effect for mothers, using men and childless women as two different control groups. The gradient in children for mothers' employment is also investigated as a robustness check. A regression of employment on a quadratic function of the age gap between the oldest and youngest child is run to confirm the role of childcare in widening the gaps. Statistical work is done using STATA17. |
| Results | The DD results show a significant worsening of the gender gap in employment and weekly hours worked after COVID. However, for women without children, these gaps remain stable. The comparison of the DD and DDD results shows that the worsening of gender gaps is largely explained by a significant drop in the employment of mothers, over and above any change for childless women. The gap widens more for mothers of school-age children, and the number of children is inversely related to mothers' employment. Women's weekly hours worked drops more than men's, but with no distinct effect for mothers. A large age difference between the youngest and oldest child is protective of mothers' employment. |
| Discussion/Conclusion | COVID's labor market effects fell disproportionately on Egyptian women, whose hours of work declined more than men's. The effect was especially sharp on mothers, as their labor supply fell on the extensive margin. Evidence suggests this loss of employment is largely due to the added childcare burden during COVID, which exacerbated an already highly gendered distribution of unpaid care work. |
| Presenters and affiliations | Nisreen Salti American University of Beirut Mahyar Rezazadeh Simon Fraser University Ali Abboud American University of Beirut Serena Canaan Simon Fraser University |
