Covid was a “wake-up call” for inequalities in the workplace and highlighted the insecurities women in particular face, the founder of global communications consultants APCO Worldwide has claimed.
Speaking at the Future Investment Initiative Forum in Riyadh, Margery Kraus claimed that women were 22 percent more at risk of losing their jobs during the pandemic, and 15 million found themselves out of work.
She said that 90 percent of those women “wouldn’t come back to the workforce”, adding: “We need to find new ways to engage women and give them opportunities along with men.”
Khalid Al Hussain, CEO of Tadawul Group, used the same session to discuss inequality more broadly, and called for the issue to be looked at in a different way.
“If we keep looking at inequality as a challenge we keep reacting to solve the problem but looking at it as an opportunity to add more to business, from a business perspective, this is the way to tackle it,” he said.
Hussain also argued that inequalities across the globe are exacerbated by people being excluded from the digital world.
“Lack of digital inclusion translates to financial exclusion,” he said, adding: “Covid-19 proves digital is the new norm.”
