Research Proposal Presentation Title

The Impact of Unemployment Rate Between Different Gender During COVID-19

Student researchers

Kevin Jiaxun Wang 62243852
Allen Yunpeng Xie 34097311
Olivia Yuewei Huang 25183229
Vickie Xinyi Bi 53428512

What is your research question?

How does the COVID-19 lead to gender inequality in employment in Beijing?

Research proposal keywords or concepts

- Gender inequality

- Unemployment Rate

- COVID-19

How would you summarize your proposed research idea?

The existence of gender discrimination is a common social phenomenon, which is reflected in various areas. The COVID-19 aggravate that social issue. Our survey site is Beijing. As the capital of China, Beijing can be a good representative of China. Secondly, the situation worsened during the period of covid-19, The unemployment rate of women was significantly higher than that of men during the period of covid-19. We can explore the impact of the epidemic on this situation.

Where is the literature gap and how does your proposed research attempt to fill that gap?

The literature gap is researching the phenomenon of how does in the COVID-19 lead to gender inequality in employment in China. We set quantitively questionnaire about situations surrounding to them. We will randomly select in all districts in Beijing, the age requirements are adults under retirement age in China. Then we will make a form to present our result of questionnaire. The literature gap is due to the fact that the covid-19 incident happened very recently and has not ended so far, so there is not enough literature to analyze the relationship between gender inequality and covid-19.

Why is this gap worthy of research?

The reason the phenomenon in China is researchable is that China is the second largest economic entity in the world. As the country with the largest population and limited operating posts, during fewer months ’lockdown causes the sort of economical decrease, the unemployment rate is raising. The unemployment rate of women was significantly higher than that of men during the period of COVID-19. We can explore the impact of the epidemic on this situation.

What future change could this research possibly contribute to, related to sustainability?

According to UN Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations, 2015), our research not only contributes to Goal 5 gender equality but also contributes to Goal 8 decent work and economic growth. Since COVID-19 will exist for a long time, the employment problems and sustainability caused by gender inequality are particularly important.

What made your group interested in and/or what excites you about your proposed topic?

The issue brought by gender has always appeared in society. Our group is very interested in gender inequality. The pandemic highlights the difference between men and women, whether in employment or health care, etc. We want to understand the causes through our research, and feminism has brought us the motivation to solve this social issue. We hope that in the future, gender inequality can gradually improve, because gender cannot limit anyone.

References

Blustein, D. L., Duffy, R., Ferreira, J. A., & Allan, B. A. (2020, June). Unemployment in the time of covid-19: A research agenda. Retrieved April 14, 2021, fromhttps:// www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0001879120300610

Reichelt, M., Makovi, K., & Sargsyan, A. (2021). The impact of COVID-19 on gender inequality in the labor market and gender-role attitudes. European Societies, 23(S1), S228-S245. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616696.2020.1823010

Statistics graph: Textor, C. (2020, July 24). China: unemployment rate by gender 2019. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/916316/china-unemployment-rate-by-gender/.

United Nations. (2015, September). THE 17 GOALS | Sustainable Development. United Nations. https://sdgs.un.org/goals.