This document synthesises evidence from 14 research projects funded by the Gender, Growth and Labour Markets in Low-Income Countries (G²LM|LIC), documenting the economic impacts of COVID-19 across eight countries. Together, these projects show that the pandemic’s effects on welfare were mediated, amplified, and propagated through three interrelated channels. First, the crisis affected households, altering food consumption, expenditure patterns, care responsibilities, and migration decisions, with important implications for women’s labour supply and household welfare. Second, impacts were transmitted through firms and workers, as enterprises adjusted to collapsing demand, workers adopted coping and job search strategies, and labour market frictions slowed reallocation and recovery. Third, government actions—including lockdown measures, social protection programmes, and firm support policies—both compounded and mitigated the economic shock, with uneven reach and effectiveness across contexts.
Gender differences in the face of major shocks: Evidence from the COVID 19 pandemic
- Andrea Smurra