G20 vows to tackle crisis

G20 labour ministers have called for "more and better and equally paid jobs for women", as the club of developed and emerging economies vowed to tackle gender inequality at work.   

On top of a 2014 commitment to reducing participation gaps between men and women by 25 percent by 2025, G20 countries are making "a new commitment... to promote employment for women," the ministers said in a statement on Wednesday.

Nations will pay "particular attention to job quality and remuneration, and tackling the gender pay gap," they added -- without setting  numerical targets.

"Women suffered more than men from the consequences of the pandemic, because they more often hold precarious or temporary jobs," Italian Labour Minister Andrea Orlando, whose country is hosting this year's G20 gathering, told reporters.

The impact had been felt "not just in terms of higher unemployment, but also because they are over-represented among workers on the front lines of fighting the pandemic and thus more exposed to the risk of infection," he added.

Ministers also agreed on a need "to strengthen social protection floors", highlighting the cases of "temporary workers, low-income self-employed, but also informal workers and migrants" left without adequate unemployment coverage.