Illustrative image. – File photo

A new research brief by the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Vietnam showed that the Covid-19 pandemic has not only exacerbated existing inequalities, but also created new gender gaps in the Southeast Asian country.

ILO Vietnam said in its brief that more than 70 percent of Vietnam’s working-age women are joining in the labor force, compared to the global level of 47.2 percent and the average of 43.9 percent in Asia and the Pacific.

However, ILO Vietnam stressed that women participation in the working force doesn’t mean that they are enjoying gender equality. Therefore, ILO Vietnam called for a change in the outlook of every woman and man in order to influence their economic behavior with the aim to achieve gender equality in the labor market.

With relatively high participation rate in the labor market, Vietnamese women have been facing multiple and persistent labor market inequalities as they carry a disproportionate double burden of work and family responsibilities.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, both women and men had a relatively easy access to jobs, but the quality of such jobs was on average lower among women than among men,” said Valentina Barcucci, ILO Vietnam Labor Economist, lead author of the research.

Specifically, the report pointed out that women spent an average of 20.2 hours per week cleaning the house, washing clothes, cooking and shopping for the family, family care and childcare, whereas men spent only 10.7 hours. Close to one fifth of men did not spend any time on these activities at all. 

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