Pakistan, Jan. 24 -- The Covid-19 pandemicand the resultant economic fallout have affected gender equality in a negative way all over the world. A recent UN study reportsthat there is a strong adverse impact of the pandemic on the livelihoods of women, and it is feared that this disproportionate impact may "further compound pre-existing gender inequalities" in developing countries, like Pakistan, and reverse the progress made thus far.

Job losses around the globe resulting from the pandemic are 1.8 times higher for females than for males (McKinsey, 2020). A survey conducted by Innovations for Poverty Action, 2020, shows that in some countries half of the female population, in sharp contrast to only a third of the male population, has zer...