COVID-19 Pandemic Through a Gender Lens

Abstract

How can African countries build the economic resilience of women and girls during the pandemic? The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has led to disruptions of both social and economic activities across the globe. While the early narrative described COVID-19 as the "great equalizer," asserting that the virus is capable of infecting anyone, it is critical for policymakers to understand that the impacts of COVID-19 will not be the same for everyone. As experience from previous epidemics 1 suggests, COVID-19 will impact groups who are most vulnerable and amplify any existing inequalities across countries, communities, households and individuals. This note focuses on the existing gender inequalities in the economic sphere in Sub-Saharan Africa and summarizes how the COVID-19 pandemic could affect women and girls disproportionately. We draw on impact evaluation research to showcase policy options to help build women's economic resilience and minimize any potential negative impacts during the pandemic and recovery. Figure 1: Business Closure Rate by Gender Facebook COVID-19 Future of Business Survey June 2020 Data: Facebook Future of Business COVID-19 high frequency survey wave 1 concluding on 2nd June 2020. Sample is among Facebook enterprise owners and managers that use the Pages feature on Facebook for their business. Total global sample of 26,948 businesses (19,354 male and 7,594 female businesses) from ~50 countries. The sampling was designed to be representative of the Facebook business page administrator population and not of any country's business population. Only African countries with a large sample size are shown (t-test *** significant difference at 1% level; ** significant difference at 5% level).

Striving for balance: women entrepreneurs in Brazil, their multiple gendered roles and Covid-19

“…There are concerns that the pandemic will negatively impact women's entrepreneurship as women have more household responsibilities (Adams-Prassl et al, 2020;AEI, 2020;Copley et al, 2020;IMF, 2020;OECD, 2020). Even before the pandemic, women entrepreneurs were having to balance family and work responsibilities (Gimenez et al, 2017) and spend up to ten times more on childcare and household chores than their male counterparts (ITC, 2020;SME Finance Forum, 2020).…”

Undergraduate Biology Students Received Higher Grades During COVID-19 but Perceived Negative Effects on Learning

“…The pandemic affected people across various social identities such as age, nationality, racial/ethnic background, LGBTQ+ status, and socio-economic status. Despite being termed as "the great equalizer" by politicians like New York's Governor Andrew Cuomo and celebrities such as Madonna (Gaynor and Wilson, 2020;van Buuren et al, 2020), it had differential impacts on people along the lines of power and privilege in our society due to various systems of oppression including, but not limited to, racism, classism, sexism, and ableism (Copley et al, 2020;Garcia et al, 2020;Gaynor and Wilson, 2020;Lokot and Avakyan, 2020;Mein, 2020). In the United States, case and death rates have been higher among Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and Native American people than white people (Gold et al, 2020;Karaca-Mandic et al, 2020;Wortham, 2020).…”

Assessing Impacts of COVID-19 on Agricultural Production and Food Systems in the World and in Turkey

“…On the other hand, it is more likely that rural women's economic and productive lives are affected more by the pandemic compared to men. As an instance, women in Sub-Sharan Africa, most of whom are involved in agricultural activities, lost their jobs or closed their businesses more than men (Copley, et al, 2020). Therefore, empowerment of rural women is rather important to mitigate the effects of Coronavirus.…”