Childcare, Women's employment and the impact of COVID-19: The case of Moldova

The global COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented crisis and one of the greatest tests that Moldova is currently facing. Although it started as a health crisis, it resulted in major repercussions on the social protection and assistance system, causing large disruptions in economic activity and limiting social life to dangerous levels. The pandemic had a detrimental impact on women living in Moldova, who even before the pandemic faced several inequalities that limited their opportunities for social, economic, and political participation, inequalities that are generated by gender stereotypes that became even more evident during the pandemic. This study looks at the impact of the pandemic on Moldovan women, specifically, the changes that have taken place in the labor market and to what extent did they affect women’s employment and welfare.