The pandemic has exacerbated structural gender inequalities in Europe. According to Hans Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, when the pandemic began, no country in this region achieved gender equality. COVID-19 has since exacerbated and shed light on the underlying structural gender inequality, he added.

According to him, women are more likely than men to be responsible for homeschooling quarantined children. Unpaid childcare is becoming the responsibility of women in the first place, limiting their ability to do paid work. And women continue to bear a disproportionate responsibility for most of the household chores and take care of children and the elderly, the Regional Director added.

According to Kluge, women continue to have little participation in the decision-making process on the response to the pandemic at the national or global level.