Academics from across Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS) have conducted research in the past year looking the impact of Covid-19 on women.

Every year the 8 March is celebrated globally as International Women’s Day. For over 100 years it has been a chance to amplify women’s voices, celebrate their achievements, and highlight the struggles that they still face in society.

In recognition of this, we look back at some of the research conducted in the past year by experts at Alliance MBS on the impact the pandemic has had on women at work.

• Members of the Work and Equalities Institute at AMBS, have written a series of thought-provoking articles on the impact of the pandemic in their specific fields of research. This includes the need to build gender equality into recovery plans, the disproportionate risk to female key workers, and many more areas which are key to the UK’s recovery.
• Professor Jill Rubery, Director of the Work and Equalities Institute at AMBS, was cited in a major parliamentary report ‘Unequal impact? Coronavirus and the gendered economic impact’. This report highlights how existing gendered inequalities in the economy have been ignored and sometimes exacerbated by the pandemic policy response.
• Professor Rubery also discussed the importance of building gender equality into recovery plans from the COVID-19 pandemic, in a Policy@Manchester blog.
• Abbie Winton and Debra Howcroft discuss the disproportionate risk/reward equation key workers – particularly women – face and how the COVID-19 crisis will impact their future, and what policymakers can do to address inequalities at work.

In addition, a team led by AMBS, came together at the beginning of the pandemic to work with organisations to develop successful plans for ensuring recovery from COVID-19. They have since received ESRC funding to support further research and activity.

The team releases a fortnightly briefing outlining important steps to recovery.