# Introduction

The COVID-19 crisis has had a dramatic impact on the labor market of both developed and developing countries. A common finding across the international literature on the subject is the differential employment impact of the pandemic across groups, with women being among the most affected. The gendered impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is primarily explained by existing differences in terms of sector of employment and occupation as well as by differences in care and domestic responsibilities between men and women. Given the concentration of women in service occupations, and particularly in contact-intensive occupations, they have been disproportionately hit by the corresponding employment losses. Similarly, the closing of schools and nurseries due to lockdown measures to contain the pandemic implied an increase in the demand for childcare. As the burden has mostly fallen on women, many mothers were forced to exit the labor market.

In MENA countries, where low female labor force participation is a structural labor market concern, the impact of the COVID-19 crisis is expected to have posed further constraints to the welfare and socioeconomic inclusion of women.

The Islamic Republic of Iran was among the world’s early epicenters of the pandemic, which struck the country as it was already grappling with a severe economic crisis spurred by structural constraints and external shocks driven by US and international sanctions.

Overall, the analysis indicates that more than 1 million jobs were lost during the first year of the pandemic, with two-thirds of job losses being concentrated among women. Interestingly, compared to what has been observed in other countries, the impact of the COVID-19 crisis did not materialize through an increase in unemployment, but through a reduction in labor force participation. In fact, not only were women more likely than men to lose their job as a result of the crisis, but they were also more likely to withdraw from the labor force altogether. Results indicate that the pandemic contributed to widening the gender gap in labor force participation (0.7 percentage point increase) and employment (0.5 percentage point increase), while – due to the larger decline in participation for Iranian women – the pandemic contributed to narrowing the gender gap in unemployment (1.6 percentage point decline). In line with what has been observed in other countries, the gendered impact of the crisis was the strongest among women with care responsibilities within the household, particularly for women with young children.

The gendered impact of the crisis was the strongest among salaried workers in the private sector. In fact, while male jobs in the salaried private sector increased by 133,000 units between 2019-20 and 2020-21, female jobs contracted by 242,000 units. Results of panel analysis indicate that the gendered response in private sector employment cannot be entirely explained by differences in job and individual characteristics, but it might reflect underlying gender norms affecting both labor demand (widespread belief that men have more “right” to jobs compared to women in time of crisis) and labor supply (gendered distribution of care responsibilities within the household).

# COVID-19 in the Islamic Republic of Iran

The Islamic Republic of Iran has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed over 133,000 lives and affected close to 7 million people out of a population of 85 million.

The Islamic Republic of Iran was among the world’s early epicenters of the pandemic and the worst-hit country in the Middle East. The first case in the country was recorded as early as February 19, 2020, and, by March 4, authorities announced that the virus had spread to nearly every province. Lockdown 2