Lisbon, Feb. 22, 2021 (Lusa) - European ministers responsible for social policy acknowledged on Monday that the Covid-19 pandemic affected women more than men and that national recovery plans need to reflect this difference.

Ministers responsible for the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs (EPSCO) portfolios met today in an informal video conference under the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the European Union, with the motto "A future with jobs - Jobs for the future of a strong Social Europe".

"Today's meeting showed a great consensus in recognising that the impact of the crisis is differentiated and that it is important to respond with public policies so that there are no setbacks regarding equality," the minister of the presidency stressed at a press conference at the end of the meeting.

Both ministers, Mariana Vieira da Silva and Ana Mendes Godinho, respectively, co-chaired the meeting of EPSCO ministers, which also included the European commissioners responsible for the same portfolios and representatives from the International Labour Organisation and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Stressing that "women have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic", the European commissioner for equality, Helena Dalli, justified that responses to the crisis must be "gender-sensitive".

The action plans "must have a gender focus as well" so that there is an "equal recovery", she added.

Da Silva stressed that this differentiated impact on women "may, if not reversed, lead to setbacks regarding equality". For example, it is necessary to "ensure that remote work is not an additional source of inequality",, she pointed out.

She concluded by saying that gender perspective had to be included in the national recovery and resilience programmes.

SBR/ADB // ADB.

Lusa