Published April 7, 2021, 12:02 AM The pervasive, long term harm brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic emerges with greater clarity more than a year after its onset. The inequality between men and women has widened, due to the disproportionate burden borne by women who have lost more jobs and have taken on the burden of childcare brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2020 of the World Economic Forum (WEF) which monitors disparities between the sexes in 156 countries across four areas – education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment – it will now take 135.6 years to bridge that gender gap, compared to 99.5 years as of the previous year’s reckoning. Established by the WEF in 2006, this report seeks to “create global awareness of the challenges that gender gaps pose” and espouses the principle that “without gender parity, economies and societies will not thrive.”