While there were many milestones to celebrate on International Women’s Day, progress is stalling as women are disproportionately feeling the brunt of the cost of living crisis and the economic uncertainty.
In fact, a report by the World Economic Forum shows that global gender parity is going to take more than five generations to achieve.
WEF said women still lag far behind men in the economy and politics while surging inflation last year disproportionately hurt their financial health.
Women also lost around $800 billion in income globally due to the pandemic, according to a separate by BofA Global Research on gender issues.
This is because almost half of those employed work in informal sectors, which saw sharp pay cuts since Covid.
In addition, the study noted women are more likely to be the main care givers for both aging parents and school-age children, which can keep them out of the work force.
There are concerns that ‘post-pandemic’ inflation is threatening to wipe out the progress women have achieved,” said Dimple Gosai, head of Bank of America’s US ESG. strategy, and author of the bank’s report.
The BoA study found that while men’s pay rose in line with inflation at 6.4%, women trailed behind at 6.2%.
The wage gap is the highest in Europe, with finance and insurance having the widest chasm at 26.2% than other sectors.
However, the report shows that Europe led the way in gender diversity at the top table. Among large EU companies, 80% have at least a third of their board seats held by women, higher than any other region in the world.
It noted that among issuers in BoA’s European bond indexes, those with a higher percentage of women directors were more likely to be rated BBB2 or better.
Overall, the report found that companies that focused on gender diversity at the board, C-suite, and firm level “have consistently achieved higher return on equity and lower earnings risk in subsequent years.”
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