The Impact of COVID-19 on the Lives of Women in the Garment Industry: Evidence from Ethiopia

In this project, we conduct high-frequency phone surveys on a panel of women who work in garment factories in Ethiopia’s largest industrial park in the city of Hawassa to document how their lives are changing during the COVID-19 crisis. Sampling from an administrative database of all workers in the Hawassa Industrial Park, we aim to collect data on a representative sample of about 4,000 workers. Respondents will be interviewed on a regular basis for a duration of six months. Studied outcomes include socioeconomic status, employment, mental and physical health, health behaviors, empowerment, trust, and economic preferences. We plan to investigate the economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis for this sample of women, and the interaction between health behaviors, trust in government, and economic preferences. We also hope to inform the government’s response and development partner programming by rapidly reporting key areas of vulnerability and their predictors.

在本项目中，我们对埃塞俄比亚最大工业区——豪萨萨市服装工厂的一组女性员工进行了高频电话调查，旨在记录他们在COVID-19疫情危机期间生活变化的状况。通过从豪萨萨工业区所有员工的行政数据库中抽样，我们旨在收集大约4,000名员工的代表性样本数据。受访者将被定期采访，持续六个月。研究结果包括社会经济地位、就业情况、心理健康与身体健康、健康行为、赋权、信任度以及经济偏好。我们计划调查这一女性样本在COVID-19危机中的经济影响，以及健康行为、对政府的信任度与经济偏好的相互作用。此外，我们希望通过快速报告关键脆弱领域及其预测因素，为政府的应对措施和发展伙伴的项目规划提供信息。