A/64/279 activities, such as waged or unpaid domestic work over schooling in order to alleviate the financial burden on the family. 22 In Indonesia, for example, the 1997 economic crisis doubled the number of children that were outside of the school system. 23 F. Impact on children 37. Evidence from previous crises regarding increases in child malnutrition and school enrolment, as described above, highlights the disproportionate impact of economic crises on children. Children are deeply affected by economic deprivation and other changes that significantly reduce family capabilities. Their dependence on family support and social services makes them particularly vulnerable to prolonged recessions and reduction in national budgets and social spending. 38. The long-term impact of the current crisis on children is particularly concerning. Various studies illustrate the lifelong repercussions from restricting children’s access to health and education during crises. The impact is particularly acute when starvation, abuse or neglect is experienced in an infant’s first months. 24 G. Impact on women and gender equality 39. Women are disproportionately affected by the crisis owing to the multiple forms of discrimination that they suffer. Women are also affected by limited access to work and social benefits. They have a higher probability than men of finding themselves in a vulnerable employment situation or of being unemployed. Moreover, during periods of crisis, women tend to assume a heavier load of unpaid work and family care, the impact of which has not been fully studied or recorded. In 2008 the gender gap in employment seemed to narrow but this is only owing to the economic crisis being felt first in male dominated industries (for example, construction and automobile industries) rather than to any gains in gender equality. Moreover, sectors that employ high proportions of women are likely to shrink substantially. 25 40. Cuts in social spending also tend to disproportionately affect women’s and girls’ access to education and health services. For example, more girls than boys are withdrawn from school to help with household work, serving to reinforce gender gaps in education. 41. Women and girls are also affected in the long run because of strategies adopted by households to cope with loss of income in the absence of external support. For example, pregnant women are at risk because they tend not to use medical services __________________ 22 23 24 25 10 See T. Woldehanna, N. Jones and B. Telefera, “The invisibility of children’s paid and unpaid work: implications for Ethiopia’s national poverty reduction policy”, Childhood 2008; 15:177201. E. Frankenberg, D. Thomas and K. Beegle, “The real costs of Indonesia’s economic crisis: preliminary findings from the Indonesia family life surveys”, in Rand Labor and Population Program Papers (1999). H. Alderman, J. Hoddinott and Bill Kinsey, “Long term consequences of early childhood malnutrition”, Oxford Economic Papers (2006) and W. Fung, and W. Ha, “Intergenerational effects of the 1959-61 China famine”, UNDP (2008). International Labour Organization, “The financial and economic crisis: a decent work response” (March 2009), para. 46. 09-45276