Gender Gaps in Eurasia: The daunting effects of COVID-19

This note summarises the work carried out by the OECD Eurasia Competitiveness Programme on gender equality in the Eastern Partner countries and Central Asia. The work was completed in consultation with Eurasia governments, in close collaboration with the development community in the region, and with the participation of the private sector and business associations.

While men have been more likely to die of COVID than women, the pandemic has in other ways significantly exacerbated the region’s pre-existing socio-economic inequalities: women have faced a sharp rise in lockdown-fuelled domestic violence, lack of access to life-saving sexual and reproductive health services, and far greater losses of employment and income than men.

This paper has three objectives: to provide a data-based evaluation of gender gaps in Eurasia (both before and during the pandemic), to assess the institutional and policy frameworks that exist to promote gender equality in these areas across the region, and, finally, to provide a series of recommendations, based on OECD good practices, to support a gender-inclusive recovery by identifying ways to support women’s economic empowerment and social well-being.