care, including the promotion of the care economy, that disproportionately affect women and particularly women with lower levels of education.

# **2. Literature Review**

Historically, women have experienced labor gaps in the workforce. These gaps are often attributed to social norms and negative biases that have limited their participation in productive activities (Argys & Averett, 2022). Some of the primary determinants of these gaps include women's role as housewives or caregivers (Blau & Winkler, 2017; Cortés & Pan, 2020), occupational segregation (Blau et al., 2013; Dolado et al., 2003), and differences in education and non-cognitive skills (Grove et al., 2011). Additionally, employers often view mothers as a potential productivity loss due to maternity leave, resulting in hiring biases. While progress has been made in recent years, significant gaps still exist in income (17%) and labor force participation (66% compared to men) in Latin America and the Caribbean. Despite women achieving higher levels of education and reduced birth rates, income and participation gaps persist, especially among low-income households, self-employed individuals, non-formal workers, and rural areas (ILO, 2019). Recent studies from the World Bank (2020) and the ILO (2019) have highlighted the need for continued efforts to reduce these gaps.

The COVID-19 economic shock had a significant impact on the labor market, and across many countries the international literature has documented more severe negative effects for women than for men. For example, the Republic of Korea recorded a higher rate of absence among women, particularly due to their role in care work, as well as high rates of part-time employment and an unexplained gap attributed to care-related roles (Ham, 2021). Similarly, women in Japan faced lower demand due to their high participation in fixed-term jobs and concentration in the service sector (Kikuchi et al., 2021). In the United States, the situation was similar, with a more significant contraction in participation and employment levels for married women with children, partly due to restrictions on childcare services (Albanesi & Kim, 2021). The impact of children on labor participation and employment was also found to be significant by other authors in the United States, particularly for women with children between 0-6 years and 6-12 years, in low-income jobs, and among Latinas and Blacks (Lim et al., 2021; Pitts, 2021; Fairlie et al., 2021). Comparable effects on participation were also seen in the United Kingdom<sup>2</sup> (Cattan et al., 2020), Australia (Churchill, 2021), and Canada (Quian & Fuller, 2021).

Extensive evidence also exists for developing countries. Using High-Frequency Phone Surveys (HFPS) conducted in 13 Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries, Cucagna & Romero (2021) analyzed the gendered impact at the onset of the COVID-19 crisis. They found that female workers were 44% more likely than male workers to lose their jobs, with a persistence in the job loss gap as the crisis continued. Furthermore, they found that 56% of job losses were explained by highly female-intensive sectors such as trade, personal services, education, and hospitality, and

> 2 However, Witteveen et al. (2020) find that in the same country, men suffered more layoffs during the pandemic’s early part than women.