There are nonetheless practically 40 international locations the place girls may be fired from their jobs simply because they received pregnant, World Financial institution chief economist Carmen Reinhart stated throughout a dialogue of how the pandemic makes it much more tough for ladies to flee poverty.

Talking on Bloomberg Tv in a dialog with Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, director of technique and coverage on the Worldwide Financial Fund, Reinhart stated the financial fallout from Covid-19 had been “very regressive,” hitting most individuals laborious. susceptible, together with girls and ladies.

“We’re seeing massive setbacks in education, ladies are being taken out who won’t come again,” Reinhart stated on Worldwide Girls’s Day. She cited a report late final yr that stated excessive poverty is ready to rise for the primary time in additional than 20 years with a disproportionately excessive proportion of girls among the many world’s new poor.

Watch: Covid Debt Disaster Wants Transparency: IMF and World Financial institution

The pandemic has contributed to a rise in violence towards girls and reinforces gender inequalities in lots of international locations, with girls on common about three-quarters of males’s authorized rights, in response to the World Financial institution.

Whereas legal guidelines have improved in some international locations, girls in lots of international locations nonetheless face authorized limits on financial alternatives, together with restrictions on journey with out a male guardian, the lender stated.

IMF’s Pazarbasioglu stated it was crucial to have “a feminine perspective in politics”.

“That is what we push in our monitoring, in our loans, in our analytical work and in our capability constructing,” she stated.

“By making certain that in our budgets, that it’s respectful of gender, that the casual sector which homes many feminine workers, insurance policies are focused on these vital actions by which girls bear the best burden,” stated Pazarbasioglu.

Pazarbasioglu and Reinhart wrote an opinion piece revealed by Bloomberg on Monday arguing for larger transparency in funding to assist deal with rising inequalities inside international locations and throughout borders.

(Add Pazarbasioglu’s remark within the penultimate paragraph. An earlier model of the story was corrected to indicate that there are virtually 40 international locations the place girls may be made redundant as a result of they received pregnant, not 30.)