The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Care Services Crisis from a Gender Perspective: Employment Impact of Public Investments in Care Services

The project focused on the care services that the COVID-19 epidemic hit from the heart all over the world, examined the situation in Turkey of the current care crisis, which aggravated with the epidemic, and offered solutions. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a large increase in unpaid household working hours in all countries, with a predominant share of women; however, the share of women in increasing unpaid working hours is higher in Turkey. Care services employment accounts for 13% of total employment; Our country, which provides 25% of women's employment, is well below the average of the Europe and Central Asia region it is included in. There is wage discrimination against women in the care services sub-sectors (the gap rises to 18% in the health sector); in addition, fees for care services are subject to a "care fee penalty"; The wage return of features such as education, age and seniority is lower in education and health sectors than in other sectors. Under these conditions, the coverage gap in education services in Turkey within the framework of international criteria is 5.8 million students, the investment cost is 98.5 billion TL, and its ratio to GDP is 2.28%. The deficit in health services is 303 thousand personnel, the required investment amount is 52.9 billion TL, and its ratio to GDP is 1.23%. Public investments of this scale in Turkey will create 1.74 million new jobs in education and health, and 1.1 million new jobs in other related sectors. The underdevelopment of the care sectors in Turkey is one of the important bottlenecks in front of women's employment. The development of institutional care services with public investments will not only increase the level of welfare by supporting the integration of women into the labor market, but will also increase the resistance of the whole society against crises that may deepen by possible new epidemic waves. In addition to strengthening the institutional care capacity of children, the elderly, sick and disabled individuals, providing paid parent and sick leave, financial support for families to provide care services from the market, qualification of unpaid care providers with (re)training programs, providing guidance and care services through İŞKUR. There is a need to introduce flexible working arrangements that will minimize income and career losses for those with responsibility.