Hello and welcome to Business Daily from the BBC. I'm Manuela Saragossa. Coming up, what have COVID lockdowns

done to gender equality at work and in the home? There is a tsunami of mum unemployment coming our way.

We are facing a retrenchment of attitudes plus economic calculation that is going to be absolutely devastating

to equality in our society. Or is the pandemic an opportunity to reset cultural norms on gender equality?

I do think that this is one of the most significant events in my lifetime in terms of how we can start to break down

some of these gendered norms that a lot of women face.

Business Daily, marking International Women's Day here on the BBC.

I've worked since I was 14 years old, so I'm not used to not having my own money.

And people say, oh, but you're married.

I'm very independent.

I've always, I want to get my hair done.

I have the money.

Get my nails on, I have the money.

Leslie Charamonte is a qualified nurse.

She lives in New York with her husband and two daughters, six-year-old

Brooklyn and four-year-old Phoenix. Now, Leslie quit her nursing job at the hospital last year when

schools were partially closed and the demands of juggling childcare, housework and the day job got too

much. It wasn't an easy decision. I've spent a substantial amount of money on my education.

I have a master's degree. I'm certified in hospice and palliative care. I've worked, you know,

high-end jobs. And here I am kind of looking at myself going, you know, in October, I was in this

dark place. I couldn't believe. Like, how is this happening to me? And it wasn't even so much the finances.

You know, as a woman, your career, I have daughters. I wanted to raise my kids to know that women

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