The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened awareness of social inequalities around the world. And the disease outbreak affects men and women differently, often hitting women and girls harder, as they play a key role in responding to the crisis, from providing healthcare to providing care at home. Therefore, looking at the scenario from the perspective of gender inequality is essential to ensure that actions to combat COVID and the foundations for recovery guarantee gender equality and offer protection to acquired rights.
A Women Deliver, a global women’s rights organization, has released a list of actions that should be included as part of COVID-19 response and recovery efforts. Recommendations range from maintaining equitable access to education in the post-pandemic scenario to scaling up services to reduce gender-based violence.
Check out the recommendations below.
Apply best practices and a gender lens to all COVID-related efforts
All policies, programs and investments, including stimulus and recovery packages, must be designed with a gender perspective so that they do not neglect or have unintended consequences for girls, women and gender equality. This approach should include proven best practices such as gender analysis, budgeting and auditing processes, and a gender marker for tracking.
Leverage age- and sex-disaggregated data to inform and define policies and investments.
Decision-makers and stakeholders need sex- and age-disaggregated data to better understand how the pandemic is affecting men and women differently. This data should be collected, analyzed, and used to inform all policies and investments, and should be made readily and widely available. This information should include those who may often be excluded from national data collection efforts, such as refugees, internally displaced people, migrant workers, and people with non-binary gender identities.
Meaningfully engage women and youth through partnerships, funding, and leadership positions.
Women and young people must be meaningfully and authentically engaged in decision-making about their own lives and the communities where they live and work. For an inclusive and representative response and recovery, women-focused and youth-led organizations must be funded and included in partnerships, and all COVID-19 decision-making bodies must embrace diverse and inclusive leadership.
Protecting and supporting those on the frontlines of the COVID-19 response – the overwhelming majority of whom are women.
Women represent 70% of the health workforce and are leading the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Frontline workers, such as health care workers and social service providers, must be provided with protection, support, and fair compensation. This includes safe working conditions, adequate equipment, equal pay, safe housing, and access to services that reflect their needs as individuals, such as mental health services and child care.
Safeguard maternal, sexual and reproductive health and rights, the basis of gender equality.
In past pandemics and crises, emergency response has resulted in funding for essential health and social services for girls and women being neglected. As the world responds to the COVID-19 crisis, funding and access to maternal, sexual and reproductive rights, including modern contraception, safe abortion, maternal health and safe childbirth services, and telemedicine, must be prioritized.
Prioritize gender equality in strengthening health systems.
Decision-makers must examine gender gaps in health spending, disease detection and response, emergency preparedness, research and development, and the health workforce. And health systems must be strengthened to reach girls and women living in humanitarian settings and to meet the needs of young people.
Fully support and fund services to reduce gender-based violence.
Data shows that gender-based violence, such as domestic violence, is increasing dramatically during the COVID-19 crisis, likely exacerbated by quarantines and limited mobility that isolate women with their abusers. Legal and support systems to prevent and respond to gender-based violence, including women’s centers, shelters, domestic violence helplines, and legal aid, must continue to operate and expand where necessary, and perpetrators must be held accountable.
Maintain equitable access to education.
Equal access to education is fundamental to girls’ and adolescents’ livelihoods and well-being, and this pandemic risks reversing years of progress in education equity. School closures can exacerbate gender inequalities, especially for poorer girls and adolescents who face a higher risk of early and forced marriage and unintended pregnancy during emergencies. School closures are likely to mean that girls and adolescents are taking on additional responsibilities at home, such as caring for siblings or caring for sick relatives, which may lead them to fall behind in schoolwork or drop out of employment.
Protect women’s economic opportunities and livelihoods.
Emergency and stimulus packages, as well as longer-term recovery investments, should support and protect women and marginalized people, including migrant and forcibly displaced girls and women who may not be able to access these resources due to their citizenship status. These investments should include robust investment in social policies and safety nets for those in the formal and informal economies, such as paid sick leave, unemployment benefits, paid family and parental leave, cash transfers, food vouchers and food distribution programs, and access to emergency health care for all.
Challenge gender norms to encourage a better balance between household chores and caregiving.
Women have traditionally shouldered the majority of caregiving and labor responsibilities in families, putting them on the front lines of the COVID-19 response at home. Women’s traditional role as caregivers makes them more susceptible to infection from sick family members, and increased demands for childcare make it difficult to balance work and household responsibilities. To challenge traditional gender norms and redistribute unpaid care and domestic labor, leaders should implement social policies such as paternity leave, social programs to encourage male involvement, educational programs in schools to promote gender equality, and model equal roles in their own lives.
