from London, United Kingdom
This article is dedicated to the memory of femicide victims during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy: Larisa Smolyak, Barbara Rauch, Bruna Demaria, Rossella Cavaliere, Lorena Quaranta, Gina Lorenza Rota, Viviana Caglioni, Maria Angela Corona, Alessandra Cità.
The global pandemic of COVID-19 is affecting humanity in a way that is unprecedented to modern history. However, it is important to understand that the virus impacts women and men differently, meaning that a gender perspective must be adopted in governments’ and international organizations’ responses to the crisis. It should come as no surprise that contexts of crisis and pandemics such as COVID-19 affect societal groups in different ways by deepening pre-existing economic, political and social inequalities (European Institute of Peace, 2020). Despite early data provided by China indicating that men have a higher mortality rate from COVID-19, women and girls are actually one of the most vulnerable categories to the pandemic, due the worsening of gender inequality that is caused by the crisis.
Women as caregivers and men as breadwinners
To begin with, it is necessary to address one core issue: traditional and oppressive gender roles that are engraved in a patriarchal model of society, portraying women as caregivers and men as breadwinners (Lewis, 2020). Historically, women are often expected to carry the burden of managing the household, caring for children and for the elderly, cooking and cleaning. Globally, women do three times as much as men unpaid domestic and care work every day (UN, 2020). COVID-19 exacerbates traditional gender roles and the burden on women, due to the closing of schools and services, which leaves women precariously juggling between taking care of sick family members and children, doing house chores and trying to work from home.
In heterosexual couples, the gender pay gap means that women are usually the ones who earn less, meaning that when it comes to dividing the extra unpaid labour necessary in COVID-19 times, women are the ones expected to sacrifice their career as their jobs are considered a lower priority (Lewis, 2020).
Gender economic inequality
Together with the exacerbating of traditional gender roles, COVID-19 negatively impacts women by deepening pre-existing gender inequality at the economic level. “Nearly 60% of women worldwide work in the informal economy, earning less, saving less, and at greater risk of falling into poverty”, with the global gender pay gap stuck at 16% (Guterres, 2020; UN, 2020). Women are also the majority of single-parent households, making them economically more vulnerable. Due to these reasons, women tend to have less access than men to income security and social protection, such as health insurance, which means they are more vulnerable to the health crisis and the economic crisis generated by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Looking at past pandemics, it is evident that gender economic disparities are intensified during health crises, as women’s capacity to absorb economic shocks that come hand in hand with health crises such as COVID-19 is less than that of men (UN, 2020). For example, the Ebola virus showed that “while men’s economic activity returned to pre-crisis levels shortly after preventative measures subsided, the impacts on women’s economic security and livelihoods lasted much longer” (ibid.).
The global surge in domestic violence
An alarming side effect of enforced lockdowns implemented worldwide in an effort to combat the spread of COVID-19, is the surge in domestic violence. Indeed, there is a tendency for domestic violence to rise in times of crisis, as victims are exposed to abusers for longer periods of time, when social and institutional support is drastically reduced (Stolton, 2020). Globally, 243 million women and girls have experienced sexual and/or physical violence perpetrated by an intimate partner in the past 12 months (UN Women, 2020). This number is likely to increase, with one half of the global population currently under lockdown (ibid.).
In the Chinese province of Hubei, domestic violence reports more than tripled, while reports of domestic violence in France have increase by 30% and in Cyprus, Singapore and Argentina calls to helplines for domestic violence victims have increased by 30%, 33% and 25% respectively (UN, 2020). It is also important to remember that violence against women and girls is widely under-reported; therefore, the number of victims is likely to be higher. Cyber violence is on the rise too, as the use of online platforms during quarantine has increased.
Support for victims of violence is lacking, as emergency shelters are either reaching capacity or closing down due to COVID-19 lockdowns, while emergency hotline services are being limited or shut off for the same reasons. Impunity for abusers is also a problem, as police is overwhelmed and understaffed by the crisis. Moreover, the financial insecurity caused by the aforementioned economic impact of COVID-19 on women is making it more difficult for victims of violence to leave their partners (Williamson, 2020).
Restrictions on women’s health
As healthcare systems around the world are busy targeting their efforts onto the fight against COVID-19, it is necessary to ensure that essential maternal, sexual, and reproductive health services are also guaranteed. Past health crises such as Ebola have demonstrated that containment efforts can divert staff and supplies from other services women need, causing issues such as increased rates of maternal mortality, especially in poor developing countries (Papp & Hersh, 2020). According to the Executive Director of the UN Population Fund, COVID-19 has already “severely disrupted access to life-saving sexual and reproductive health services”, especially in terms of the lack of clear guidelines for pregnant women and the difficulties women are currently facing in accessing abortion (Kanem in UN News, 2020).
The need for a gender perspective in responses to COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic is unfolding during the year marking the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action, which set the tone on the importance of women’s rights and gender equality worldwide (UN Women, 2020). We cannot afford to lose the little progress made so far in this realm due to the negative impact of the pandemic in terms of deepening gender inequality.
Firstly, it is necessary to recognize that gender inequality is a pre-existent issue rooted in pandemic patriarchy and machismo. The negative impact of COVID-19 on women is just another symptom of a global system that does not value women as much as men (Alcoba, 2020).
Secondly, it is necessary to adopt a gender perspective in order for responses to COVID-19 to be effective. Tackling the virus and its long-term effects on the economy and society necessarily involves the implementation of measures ensuring women won’t fall further behind, especially for those living in poverty and precarious conditions, such as refugees. These measures must include guaranteeing that victims of violence have access to shelters and hotlines. The unpaid care work by women needs to be recognized as vital for the economy, which must be made more inclusive to empower women workers (UN Women, 2020).
Countries should gather and share sex-disaggregated data on COVID-19, in order to produce knowledge that will then inform policy-makers, enabling them to formulate appropriate responses to the crisis (ibid.). This data will also help in the likely event of future pandemics.
Thirdly, as highlighted by UNSG Guterres (2020), women and girls must be put at the forefront of COVID-19 responses as leaders and decision-makers. This “will fundamentally drive better and more sustainable development outcomes for all, support a more rapid recovery, and place us back on a footing to achieve the SDGs” (UN, 2020).
Bibliography
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European Institute of Peace. (2020). Why we need gender perspectives in our global solutions to COVID-19 (online). Available at: http://www.eip.org/en/news-events/why-we-need-gender-perspectives-our-global-solutions-covid-19 (Accessed 10/04/2020)
Guterres, A. (2020). “Put women and girls at the centre of efforts to recover from COVID-19”. UN (online). Available at: https://www.un.org/en/un-coronavirus-communications-team/put-women-and-girls-centre-efforts-recover-covid-19 (Accessed 10/04/2020).
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Autore dell’articolo*: Laura Mariani, studentessa BA (Hons) della School of Politics and International Relations presso la University of Kent. Esperta di gender in politica internazionale del Think Tank.
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