Rapid Gender Assessment of COVID-19 Situation in Georgia – 2. 2021

The assessment was carried out by the Georgian research agency CRRC-Georgia in October 2020, the research builds on the results of a similar survey conducted in May 2020, aiming to understand the lasting effects of the pandemic on men and women and inform the gender-sensitive response.

Key findings:

• 20% of employed women and 15% of employed men in Georgia lost their jobs because of the pandemic.
• Every 5th employed Georgian says their jobs pay less than before.
• 40% of Georgians say they spend more time on domestic chores at a time of the pandemic. But for women, the burden has increased more than for men.
• About 2/3 of Georgian women are the sole ones responsible for most of the household work.
• Only 26% of women compared to 36% of men say that their employment burden and working hours decreased during the pandemic.
• 33% of Georgians, among them 38% women and 27% men, cut down their healthcare spending to compensate for the household budgets shrinking because of the pandemic.
• Around half of Georgians report that their mental health has been affected as a result of the pandemic, but women (57%) are more affected than men (40%).
• Every 5th Georgian says domestic violence has increased during the pandemic - 23% of women and 17% of men say they have felt or heard about the increased cases of domestic violence.
• 40% of women are aware of psychological support services and 32% of women know about shelters and crisis centres.