Crisis impacts are never gender‐neutral, and COVID‐19 is no exception. The pandemic has further exacerbated the gender and socioeconomic inequalities, therefore, crucial to undertake a gender impact analysis of COVID‐19. This perspective paper highlights women's vulnerability in the labor market and focused on the increasing unpaid workloads in the response to the COVID‐19 outbreak. Focusing on various surveys, feminized sectors such as agriculture, garments have been hardest hit by the pandemic. Female workers have been rapidly lost their means to earn income and confined to homes. Beyond lost jobs and reduced working hours, the pandemic has also increased the time poverty of women. While pre‐pandemic unpaid work burdens are well established as strong, the study indicates that burdens are escalated after‐pandemic. Women balanced intensified unpaid care and domestic works simultaneously or make a tradeoff, without or minimal help from men. Such results suggest a gender‐inclusive policy to minimize the effects of the pandemic, placing women at the center of focus.
Agrarian Bangladesh relies heavily on rice. Since independence, many varieties have been released and targeted to increase productivity, farmers' income, and food security. However, few gained widespread adoption. Moreover, farmers in the border regions are adopting exotic cultivars, and it's gradually spreading throughout the country. But, the reasons for adopting exotic rice cultivars are still unexplored. Using field data from 1,260 farm households and 42 focus group discussions, this study analyzes farmers' preferences for domestic and exotic rice varieties and identifies the factors of adoption linked to design national breeding programs and farmers' welfare. Findings show, exotic varieties (69%) monopolized the area coverage in the dry season, whereas in the wet season, domestic varieties (58%) dominated. Farmers select exotic varieties for their better yield and price, low production costs, high grain quality, resistance to pests and diseases, and ability to withstand stresses. Risk analysis shows domestic varieties adoption is riskier with lower returns. The empirical findings indicate that household characteristics, access to institutions and infrastructure, varietal characteristics, and weather condition, all play a significant role in adoption decisions. National breeding should focus on developing rice varieties in response to market demands and farmer preferences toward sustainable food security in Bangladesh.
With pandemic progression and the stay-at-home situation, household are producing more dangerous medical waste. Households became the most vulnerable and unprotected sector of coronavirus transmission due to the unconsciousness and lack of guidance of hazardous waste management. Therefore, waste management is a critical concern to public health. This study examines household waste generation and waste management issues in Bangladesh during COVID-19 from March 2020 to August 2021. The study showed that adequate identification, collection, transportation, processing, separation, and disposal are the challenges of safe waste management. Each activity bears a high risk of getting infected because of lack of proper guidance and protection. Moreover, the improper disposal of hazardous waste causes immense soil, water and air pollution that might have negative effects to the human body. Some suggested guidelines to a better COVID-19 household’s waste management are discussed in the context of Bangladesh.
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