that school-age children at home were linked to a rise in job losses among females but not males. Berniell et al. (2021) also used the same surveys to estimate fixed effect models and confirmed that women's labor outcomes were harder hit, with more job losses, income reductions, and fewer job entries. They also discovered that working from home strongly decreased the negative effects, mainly in women with children.

Using HFPS in African countries, Contreras-Gonzalez et al. (2022) found a higher probability of job loss for women, urban workers, and youth, with an even greater likelihood for urban workers among women with children. Viollaz et al. (2022) investigated four Latin American countries and found a significant impact on preexisting gaps before the pandemic, with women being less likely to work and more likely to have informal jobs. The authors suggested that a driving factor was the disparity in the share of children, particularly those with school-age children.<sup>3</sup> On the flip side, the pandemic also brought about changes in the gender income gap, although the impacts varied depending on women’s occupational choices. Contreras-Gonzalez et al. (2022) found that African non-agricultural companies experienced a greater income loss among women and youth. Doorley et al. (2021) found negative effects on women's wages during the first wave of COVID-19 in Ireland but also interestingly observed a shift in occupational segregation that previously favored men to now favor women's earnings. Additionally, fiscal benefits had a multiplier effect that reduced the gap, which was twice as large as the pre-pandemic reduction. In Canada, Singh et al. (2022) found negative effects on women's income and employment, which increased gender disparities and related to sectoral segregation. Bonacini et al. (2021) used decomposition methods in Italy and discovered that the income gap was greater for women working from home (WFH)<sup>4</sup> - something not expected - with effects on older and married women and those working in the private sector.

On the contrary, in the United Kingdom, Kan M-Y (2021) found that women experienced a smaller reduction in their income given their high participation in critical sectors such as the health and care industries. A similar result was found by Aina et al. (2021) in Italy. On the other hand, in Estonia, the pandemic reduced the gaps in employment, income, and hours worked. Again, women with children and those from more affected sectors are penalized with possible long-term effects on inequality (Verdostup, 2021). Hill & Köhler (2021) analyzed gender wage inequality in South Africa during the pandemic and found that the gender wage gap increased significantly by 37%, with a more pronounced effect on the poorest quintile, among which the gap increased by as much as 2.7 times.

In Colombia, studies (World Bank, 2019; Garcia-Rojas, 2020 and Hernandez, 2022) show a significant reduction in female participation and employment level, labor formality, and increases

> 3 Some independent studies also find negative effects on employment outcomes for women: Brazil (Masri et al., 2021), Mexico (Hoehn-Velasco et al., 2021; Juarez & Villaseñor, 2022) and Chile (Egana-del Sol et al., 2020).

> 4 In the UK, increases in self-perceived productivity for those working at home were also found, except for mothers with children, who also work longer hours (Deole et al., 2021).