Sustainability in times of crisis: Female employment during COVID-19

In periods of crisis, companies face a financial reality that forces them to decide whether to maintain their commitment to sustainability or prioritize their financial returns. The study of what happened during the COVID-19 pandemic is vital, given the hard blow it has implied for business and, consequently, for employment. Thus, this paper seeks to determine whether the business commitment to sustainability policies focused on employment and gender diversity translates into concrete results. In a sample of 1761 multinationals (8963 observations) during the 2015–2020 period, we found that the pandemic has harmed employment at the microeconomic level. However, this impact is moderated by the level of responsibility that companies have with their workers. Therefore, the most sustainable companies have been more reluctant to reduce their workforce and even more so when they are women. These results help to position sustainability performance as a way to achieve gender equality at the business level.