UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for dismantling the discrimination and harmful gender stereotypes that contribute to the gender pay gap. 

"Addressing the COVID-19 pandemic offers a generational opportunity to write a new social contract that upholds women’s human rights, including the right to equal pay," he said in a message on Saturday. 

This is a matter of justice and a responsibility for all, said the UN Secretary General marking the International Equal Pay Day.

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He said COVID-19 pulled back the curtain on a gross injustice: the lack of compensation for the work of raising children and caring for people who cannot look after themselves, which is largely done by women. 

By pushing care work out of the formal economy and into the home, Guterres said, the pandemic has exacerbated the gender pay gap. 

Many women are struggling to hold down paid jobs while raising children, dealing with online school, and caring for sick or vulnerable family members without material compensation, he said. 

"Investing in the care economy helps bridge the pay gap by creating new, sustainable jobs while freeing women up to participate in the paid workforce," said the UN chief. 

At the same time, he said, most frontline health workers battling the virus are women. 

They often earn less than men, lack decision-making power, and suffer greater exposure to violence and harassment, said Guterres. 

"I was vividly reminded of women’s dual roles when I spoke with a health worker in Ghana, Scholastica Dery. 

“As frontline workers, we are the majority,” Guterres quoted Dery as saying. “Combining this with our household duties is not easy, but we are determined to do it.”

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Despite equal pay laws, women earn an average of just 80 cents for every dollar men earn for work of equal value, said the UN chief. 

"That figure is even less for women of colour and those with children," he said.