More than 50% of companies increased the labor participation of women in 2021

52% of Peruvian companies indicated that there was an increase in the participation of women in labor activity during the last year 2021, according to a recent survey carried out by Marsh within the framework of the Women’s Day commemoration date.

This increase is recorded after 2 years in which the female population saw a reduction in their work activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to what was indicated by Marsh, 37% of the organizations registered a growth in female participation of between 1% and 5%; 19% indicated an increase from 6% to 10%; 4% indicated from 11 to 15%, while 2% of companies indicated that the number of their female workers had increased even more than 25%.

“It is important to remember that, due to the effects of the pandemic, many of the women who were part of the labor community were forced to leave their jobs aside to dedicate themselves to housework or family work. However, we are currently facing a decrease in cases of Covid-19, which has made it possible to observe that many women are returning to work,” according to Claudia Espinoza, Senior Consultant in Occupational Psychology at Marsh.

Laboral benefits

The process of returning to work for women, both remotely and in person, would still have several obstacles, because some would have gone on to carry out household activities. In this context, some organizations have sought to provide alternatives to reduce the inequality generated by the pandemic through different initiatives, one of them being labor benefits.

The Marsh study indicates that 74% of the companies surveyed grant flexible hours, 71% provide leave for the care of relatives or parents, another 65% have activated breastfeeding and maternity programs, 35% have increased quotas for women in management positions and even 6% of the organizations have supported the installation of cameras at home with virtual access for workers with newborn babies, being favorable actions to achieve work-family balance.

In addition, many women presented the challenge of organizing a duality of roles, by sharing work activities with the care of family members and children during the pandemic period. This added to the, still in force, state of emergency, and the prolonged period of closure of educational centers caused a family overload in the female population.

In this sense, companies have also focused their work wellness strategies on mental health care. In fact, 59% of the companies surveyed indicated that they have established policies for the promotion of psychological health and motivational workshops, telephone self-help lines (46%), agreements with institutions that promote mental health (40%), among others. .

It should be noted that this reinsertion of women into the labor market occurs in one of the regions where their participation was most affected.

“According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), the countries of the Americas experienced the greatest loss of female employment as a result of the pandemic (-9.4%). Therefore, it is necessary that the benefits granted by the organizations continue as long as equity is achieved both for their economic situation and for the family environment,” added Espinoza.