Women-led SMBs saw more closures in pandemic globally: Facebook

Stressing that women have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic globally Facebook on Tuesday said that femaleled small and medium businesses SMBs were more likely than maleled SMBs to report that they were closed even when taking into account factors like size of business sector and geographyNearly 23 per cent of all female business leaders stated that they spent six hours or more per day on domestic responsibilities compared to only 11 per cent of men according to the fourth edition of Facebooks iumliquestfrac12Global State of Small Business ReportThe pandemic has affected everyone but it hasnt affected everyone equally Women are more likely to have extensive caring responsibilities more likely to lose their jobs or have their pay cut and more likely to feel overwhelmed stressed or anxious said Sheryl Sandberg Chief Operating Officer FacebookAbout 24 per cent of female business leaders compared to 18 per cent of male business leaders identified caring for household members as an area for further policy support according to the survey of 25000 SMBs across more than 50 countriesHuge gender gaps at home and in business as well as in access to education healthcare technology and much else have been a bitter truth for as long as anyone can remember so it should come as no surprise that they should exist now Sandberg said in a statementThe gender inequality was also observed at homeAnother Facebook report iumliquestfrac12Gender Equality at Home in collaboration with the World Bank Group UN Women independent research firm Ladysmith and civil society and private sectorled partnership EqualMeasures2030 surveyed more than 460000 people on the platform in more than 200 countries and territoriesIt found that more than 25 per cent of respondents in most regions reported having concerns about having enough food and basic supplies during Covid19 including more than a third of women in the US and CanadaWomen consistently reported earning less than men and being dependent on someone else financially A quarter of women expressed concerns about the future of their jobs and that they spent more time on unpaid care and domestic work as a result of Covid19 Facebook saidThe majority of people agreed that women and men should have equal opportunities in education employment and household decisionmakingIn South Asia 89 per cent of respondents agreed that men and women should have equal opportunitiesAbout 68 per cent of survey respondents agreed that a womans most important role is to take care of her home and children while 42 per cent agreed that household expenses are the responsibility of the man even if his wife can help him the findings showedWomen in South Asia were significantly more likely than men to report taking care of cooking cleaning and household managementKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest newsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever