COPENHAGEN, 23 June 2022 – Today, Canadian parliamentarian Hedy Fry, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Special Representative on Gender Issues, issued her 2022 gender report entitled Ensuring a Gender-Inclusive Economic Recovery from the COVID-19 Pandemic. The report explores the gendered impacts of the pandemic and outlines best practices for a gender-inclusive economic recovery.

The first section of the report examines the economic consequences of the pandemic on women, including women-led businesses, as well as the disproportionate increase in unpaid care work that women have assumed. That section also outlines specific measures to support a gender-inclusive economic recovery, which include promoting gender budgeting and investing in the collection and use of gender-disaggregated data. The second section of the report assesses the gender balance within OSCE PA structures, including the International Secretariat, as well as in the parliaments of OSCE participating States.

One of the main findings outlined in the report is that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to undermine the economic security and well-being of women across the OSCE region. In support of a gender-inclusive economic recovery to the pandemic, Fry’s report urges “all participating States to ensure that their policy approaches to pandemic recovery incorporate an intersectional gender lens and take into account the perspectives of diverse groups.”

The 2022 gender report will be discussed during the OSCE PA’s Annual Session in Birmingham (2-6 July 2022), including during a Working Lunch on Gender Issues.

The full text of the report, in English and French, is available on the OSCE PA’s website.

More information about the work of the OSCE PA Special Representative on Gender Issues is available here.