Downturns tend to reduce gender inequality. Not under covid-19

HAIR SALONS tend to be recession-proof. People always need haircuts. During the financial crisis of 2007-09 the number of hairdressers in America even rose. For Sylvia, who owns a small salon in Amsterdam, that crisis was very different from today’s. “Lockdown came out of nowhere and I had no buffer.” She is heartened that regulars phoned in when she reopened. “If it had lasted any longer”, she says, fighting back tears while disinfecting the previous customer’s seat, “I would have gone under.”