Women suffer disproportionately from depressive syndromes, which are a major source of illness worldwide, resulting in lost productivity, lost wages, medical expenses and other costs. Inequality also produces other costs in health care. It has been found that limited access to care among the poor has a greater relative impact on women than men, with poor women more likely to die as a result of pregnancy. The economic costs of maternal mortality, which affects over half a million women annually, include their lost contributions to the family, increased mortality among their children, and increased burdens of home maintenance and child care to their survivors. A study in India found that when a woman died, the survival of the household was often challenged because men were unaccustomed to managing domestic affairs.
Women often have less control over when, where and whether sex takes place.
In some countries, it is estimated that the pandemic has reduced per capita gross domestic product by 0.5 per cent per year. The impacts on the poor and on health systems are even greater.