The COVID-19 crisis caused unprecedented job losses, hitting women the hardest. Women’s employment-to-population ratios declined proportionally more than men’s for all country income level groups, particularly in middle-income countries. Therefore, gender gaps in employment-to-population ratios have increased in 2020. Loss of employment has mostly resulted in economic inactivity, for young women in particular. Evidence from selected countries also indicates that the greater the employment losses experienced by a country, the more than proportionally women were affected. Women’s job losses were relatively lower in countries where policies like job retention schemes were put in place to minimize the loss of employment.