The Gendered Effects of Covid

by Alessandra Casarico (Bocconi University) and Salvatore Lattanzio (University of Cambridge)

The novel coronavirus disease spread quickly around the world and caused an unprecedented policy response by governments that put entire countries under lockdown for a long period of time. The lockdown may have severe consequences for some categories of workers, and female workers are likely to be among the most exposed groups, both because the sectors they work in are among those subject to a stricter lock down, and because of the concurrent school closures. In this project, we aim at evaluating the effects of the pandemic on the work of women in Italy. Our project has two objectives: first, evaluate how business closures impact female occupations and wages; second, evaluate how public policy implemented to react to Covid mediates its effects on women’s work. This involves not only measures directly targeted to families (e.g. parental leaves or subsidies), but also broader policies (e.g. reorganisation of public transport), which may have a gendered impact. Our project would contribute to the growing literature on the unequal effects of Covid and on the role of public policy in addressing them.

Publications:

• A. Casarico, 2020, Le disuguaglianze di genere e i rischi per la società, in AA.VV. “Il mondo dopo la fine del mondo”, Laterza. 
• A. Casarico e F. Meluzzi, 2020, Gli effetti del Covid-19 sul lavoro delle donne, in Malvicini et al. “Le parole della crisi. Le politiche dopo la pandemia”, Editoriale Scientifica.