COVID-19 is No Excuse to Regress on Gender Equality

Abstract

Given the significant gendered effects of COVID-19, governments need to adopt the following specific actions: • Enhance social services and health protection. • Provide conditional or unconditional cash transfers and food assistance. • Provide targeted support for the most marginalized girls and boys. • Create gender-responsive education. • Address different forms of gender-based violence. • Narrow gender gaps through skills development and job creation. • Pursue gender-responsive labor market policies. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis threatens to reverse hard-won gains in gender equality, further exposing women's vulnerabilities based on their precrisis social, economic, and political situations. Understanding the gendered impact of the COVID-19 pandemic can guide policy makers as they pursue gender-responsive policy making and budgeting. This can ensure a response mindful of the needs of women and girls that addresses existing and emerging gender inequalities and challenges. In this context, this policy brief provides a set of recommendations for gender-responsive policies and sector-specific strategies in response to the pandemic. ThE UNEVEN ImPaCT Of COVID-19 ON WOmEN'S LIVES aND LIVELIhOODS Cases of COVID-19 are still rising globally, with nearly 46 million cases and 1.2 million deaths as of 1 November 2020. 2 COVID-19 affects men and women differently in several ways. Early data across several countries show that men tend to be more susceptible than women, and older people more susceptible to the disease regardless of gender (Mueller, McNamara, and Sinclair 2020). Figure 1 shows that the number of cases is higher for men than women, except for those aged 85 and up. Interestingly, however, survey data from eight Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries from March and April 2020 showed that men were less likely to view COVID-19 as serious, and consequently less likely to agree with public policy measures such as closing schools and nonessential businesses, and less likely to follow social distancing rules (Galasso et al. 2020). 3 1 The authors would like to thank Tsolmon Begzsuren, Samantha Hung, Keiko Nowacka, and Yasuyuki Sawada for their review and very useful and valuable comments on various technical issues examined in this paper.

The Female Secondary Stipend and Assistance Program in Bangladesh: What Did It Accomplish?

“…With the sharp drop in Bangladesh garment sector jobs in the ongoing pandemic (Hayashi and Matsuda 2020), females are disproportionately affected. The government needs to take early actions to implement gender-responsive education policies so that hard-won gains in gender equality will not be reversed (Park and Inocencio 2020).…”

The Gendered Nature of the Risk Factors of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Gender Equality: A Literature Review from a Vulnerability Perspective

“…Instead, the disaster impact is contingent upon the vulnerability of affected people, which differs across economic class, ethnicity, gender, and other factors [9]. The pandemic threatens to reverse hard-won gains in gender equality, exposing women's vulnerabilities based on their pre-pandemic social, economic, and political situations [4]. Thus, the pandemic poses multiple risk factors that have significant implications for gender equality, both during the pandemic and in the subsequent recovery process.…”

“…To date, the pandemic has hindered multiple forms of progress made in gender equality, female empowerment, and efforts to reduce gendered violence. The pandemic threatens to reverse hard-won gains in gender equality, exposing women's vulnerabilities based on their pre-pandemic social, economic, and political situations [4].…”

“…Identifying and understanding the gendered risk factors of the COVID-19 pandemic can direct policymakers as they pursue gender-responsive policy making and budgeting. Moreover, the policymakers should accelerate their efforts to re-establish the path towards a more gender-equal society [4].…”

2020 Development Effectiveness Review

“…Women's burden of unpaid care, already triple that of men, has likely grown as well, as COVID-19 has imposed new and expanding demands at home, including for childcare and schooling support, amid a pervasive absence of family support structures. 8 COVID-19 has driven home the critical importance of such "invisible work" for sustaining societies. A range of evidence suggests increases in gender-based violence in 2020 as well, adding to a pervasive challenge.…”