UN Women Report: Gender equality in the wake of Covid-19

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The pandemic has widened gender and economic inequalities.

“The impacts of crises are never gender-neutral, and Covid-19 is no exception.”

 

The UN Women report “From insights to action: Gender equality in the wake of COVID-19” is a useful guide for researchers and journalists looking into the situation of women and of gender equality during the pandemic. As in disaster and conflict, women are more vulnerable in this global crisis and the study showed how the pandemic exacerbated women’s situation and widened gender and economic inequalities everywhere.

 

The report was published in 2020, when only a few rich countries have started Covid-19 vaccine inoculation at the end of the year and many others still no see an end in sight to the pandemic. Various countries’ situations, such as in India, will take a turn for the worse as they experience their second wave of the virus infections surge.

 

The publication summarizes data, research, and policy work by UN Women’s Policy and Programme Division on the pandemic’s impact on women and girls, including the impact on extreme poverty, employment, health, unpaid care, and violence against women and girls. The publication also brings into focus the paucity of gender data and calls for greater investment and prioritization of data on the gendered effects of the crisis.

 

On one hand, the study can also provide insights to support actions needed to drive gender equality forward.

 

The Generation Equality Forum – ending in Paris on June 30 to July 2 – will launch a series of concrete, specific and ambitious commitments to accelerate progress towards gender equality in the next five years.

Some important findings in the report:

  1. Covid-19 is causing unimaginable human suffering.

 

  1. Covid-19 has pummeled feminized labour sectors.

 

  1. Covid-19 will push millions more into extreme poverty and will likely increase female poverty.

 

  1. The pandemic has intensified women’s unpaid care and domestic workloads.

 

  1. Domestic violence has grown globally in parallel to the virus

 

  1. Gender data need to be prioritized

 

Read and download the full report here.

 

Report authors/editors: Ginette Azcona, Antra Bhatt, Jessamyn Encarnacion, Juncal Plazaola-Castaño, Papa Seck, Silke Staab, and Laura Turquet