Will the pandemic derail hard-won progress on gender equality?
Image credit of UN Women
By Ginette Azcona and Antra Bhatt (UN Women), Sara E. Davies (Griffith University), Sophie Harman (Queen Mary University of London), Julia Smith (Simon Fraser University) and Clare Wenham (London School of Economics and Political Science).
COVID-19 has been declared a public health emergency of international concern and a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. This global threat to health security underscores the urgent need to accelerate progress on achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3: good health and well-being. It also reveals what is less obvious, but no less urgent: how health emergencies such as COVID-19, and the response to them, can exacerbate gender inequality and derail hard-won progress not only on SDG 3 but SDG 5 (Gender Equality).
A new report by UN Women and the Gender and COVID-19 working group showcases the latest evidence on the gendered impact of the pandemic, highlights potential and emerging trends, and reflects on the long-term impact of the crisis on the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The report identifies ten key findings that need to be prioritized when governments are devising social protection and economic stimulus packages in response to the economic, health and social disruptions caused by COVID-19. In this post, we will briefly detail some of the report’s findings.
First, COVID-19 reveals we don’t count gender. To date, more men than women have died from COVID-19. Lack of data on testing and infection rates by sex, however, leaves many questions unanswered, including on risks and exposure among different groups of women and men, particularly those from marginalized communities. Amongst the reported cases of COVID-19 for which data on age and sex are available, 54 percent are among males. However, once disaggregated by sex and age, older women (85+), account for a greater share of total cases (65 per cent). These numbers are the tip of the iceberg because we don’t have enough sex-disaggregated data. In August, 79 (of 194) UN member states provided sex-disaggregated data on COVID-19 infections. The number of countries collecting and disseminating this data is growing but it is striking that at the start of the pandemic less than 40 states were collecting sex-disaggregated data. It appears that risk amongst health care workers is gendered with infections among female health care workers up to 3 times higher than among their male counterparts. Gender-sensitive data collection must be prioritized.
Second, COVID-19 exacerbates multi-dimensional poverty. COVID-19 risks reversing decades of progress in the fight against poverty and exacerbating inequality within and between countries. Globally, there are at least 193 million women and girls aged 15+ living on less than $1.90 a day. The current crisis threatens to trap and push millions more into extreme poverty. Nearly 743 million girls are out of school due to closures resulting from the pandemic. Over 111 million live in least-developed countries. The provision of water, sanitation and hygienic conditions are essential to protecting human health. Yet, today 3 billion people lack basic hygiene facilities in their homes. 500 million women and girls globally are estimated to lack adequate facilities for menstrual hygiene management. This puts women and their families at greater risk of infection. Finally, the pandemic lays bare women’s precarious economic security: 740 million women work in the informal economy. Their income fell by 60 per cent during the first month of the pandemic. A gender-aware response to the economic shock resulting from COVID-19 requires greater support to women in the labour market, especially in those sectors where women make up the majority of workers, and most especially for those working in the informal sector.
Third, Covid-19 is further disruptive to gender inequality. Women’s access to sexual and reproductive health services may be disrupted as resources are diverted to respond to the health emergency. Already before the pandemic, 810 women died from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth every day. 243 million women and girls were victims of sexual and/or physical violence by their partners in the last 12 months prior to the survey. The figure is likely much higher since stay-at-home measures were put in place. The pandemic has intensified women’s unpaid care workloads. A recent study involving France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States found that working women on average do 15 hours more a week of unpaid care and domestic work compared to men. In self-isolation, men are reportedly contributing more to this work, but women continue to do the lion’s share.
A particular microbe or disease may not discriminate, but they exist in societies that do. The COVID19 pandemic has exacerbated gender inequality and other forms of inequality and poverty already present. The danger of intergenerational poverty is real if states and the wider international community fail to prioritise gender equality in health, economic and social response and recovery policy.