Skopje, 15 September 2021

Globally, corona crisis has further highlighted the issue of gender equality and the degree of women's inclusion in society, because according to available data, it affects women disproportionately more than men. The pandemic imposed the need for containment measures, which mostly affected the social skill activities, i.e. the service sector, but also the informal economy, where the participation of women is higher. Thus, the corona crisis further highlighted the need to step up activities to promote gender equality.

This was stated by the National Bank Governor Anita Angelovska Bezhoska, at the panel discussion on COVID-19 and the Economic Impact on Women at the First Annual Conference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Women in Foreign Policy.

The Governor, addressing the situation in the Western Balkans, pointed out that according to studies conducted by international institutions, every year the region's economies lose about 18% of their GDP due to the gender gap in the labor market and that two thirds of the lost income reflects the low inclusion of women in the labor market.

"In times of health crisis, the further increase in inactivity among women is particularly worrying. Enhanced women’s inclusion in the workforce is in favor of not only women but also society as a whole, with several studies concluding that higher inclusion of women can lead to as much as 10% higher GDP in developed countries and as much as 30% in developing countries", said Angelovska Bezhoska.

She also stressed that greater involvement of women requires institutional policies to ensure equal access to education, health, and greater access to finance.

"Therefore, activities are needed to facilitate access to finance, increase financial education, especially for women with lower incomes, increase digital skills, create special funds to financially support women's investments", said Angelovska Bezhoska.

Besides Governor Angelovska Bezhoska, the panel discussion was also attended by the President of the Economic Chamber of Information and Communication Technologies - MASIT and the Honorary Consul of Canada, Aneta Antova Pesheva, member of the Management Board of the Chamber of Commerce of North-West Macedonia, the President of the Association of Chambers of Commerce of Macedonia and Honorary Consul of Hungary, Danela Arsovska and Nadire Redzepi, representative of the Roma Entrepreneurship Development Initiative - REDI.