"Given that women account for approximately 80 per cent of the garment sector workforce, many of the sectoral impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have and will continue to disproportionately affect women.

This brief raises awareness of the gendered reality of COVID-19 and outlines some of the ways in which the pandemic impacts women and men workers in the garment sector in the short, medium and long-terms. Ultimately dedicated gender-responsive measures and policies should be designed and implemented based on the needs and realities of different groups of women, of men and of others. Otherwise, the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to exacerbate pre-existing inequalities, undermine women's empowerment and hamper the social and economic sustainability of the garment sector over the short, medium and long terms."

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