ABSTRACT
The aim of this research is to analyze how the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the situation of women in the Mexican labor market, analyzing one specific aspect: teleworking. The chapter analyzes whether it is the characteristics of employment that favor (or limit) to a greater extent the performance of teleworking activities in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, and whether this situation has increased gender inequality. This is done using data from the COVID-19 and Labor Market Telephone Survey (ECOVID-ML) conducted in Mexico between April and July 2020. The application of the Oaxaca-Binder method allows us to decompose the gender gap in the probability of participating in telework activities, while the procedure proposed by Juhn–Murphy–Pierce allows us to analyze the factors that influence the evolution of this gap. The control variables considered include age, schooling, employment relationship, occupation, sector of activity and firm size. The obtained results show a gender gap in telework activities for about 20 points in favor of women, 9 of which are linked to the characteristics of women, as they work in activities and sectors that may be better adaptable to this new context, but most of these differences are due to unexplained factors.
