COVID-19: support for women vital

Key actions that all governments can take to address the gendered dimensions of the COVID-19 crisis.

As the COVID-19 pandemic intensifies and the implications of its affects on women become more clear, members of the 2018 and 2019 G7 Gender Equality Advisory Councils have called on the G7 member states – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America – to take into account the gendered dimensions of the crisis and to prevent the deterioration of gender equality and women’s rights worldwide.

The G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council was founded by Canada in 2018 and renewed by France in 2019, and presented recommendations to the G7 leaders during their annual summits.

This group, which includes Nobel Peace Prize winners Malala Yousafzai, Leymah Gbowee, Nadia Murad, and Doctor Denis Mukwege; actor and activist Emma Watson; the executive director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka; and Women Deliver’s President/CEO Katja Iversen, have now come together again, and outlined key actions that all governments can take to address the gendered dimensions of the COVID-19 crisis.

In a letter to the G7 member states, they said:

We are experiencing an unprecedented health crisis that can now affect anyone and exposes the most vulnerable to additional risks.

Because of deep-rooted gender inequality, girls and women worldwide will also experience the COVID-19 pandemic differently.

We, members of the 2018 and 2019 G7 Gender Equality Advisory Councils, urgently call on G7 member states for joint emergency action to respond to the particular challenges facing women and to prevent the deterioration of gender equality and women’s rights worldwide.

We call on all governments to take into account the gendered dimensions of this crisis.

While men are so far slightly more affected, women make up seventy per cent of healthcare and social service workers worldwide, putting them at the forefront of the crisis and at greater risk of exposure. They also hold the majority of low-paid and shut-down retail and service jobs, and are therefore even more economically vulnerable during – and after – this crisis.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the imposed confinement measures have already resulted in a significant rise of domestic abuse, especially against women and children worldwide.

Women’s fundamental sexual and reproductive rights and services have been dramatically reduced. Progress in ensuring education for all girls has been set back.

Women in conflict zones and living in camps for refugees and displaced people are facing the virus in the worst conditions.

They need protection. All of us need more solidarity.

And they have recommended the G7:

Take special measures to support healthcare and social workers and to provide proper working conditions during the crisis, including all the necessary equipment and social housing near hospitals;

Adopt special measures to protect those experiencing domestic violence. Governments should ensure efficient training of all first responders, create additional emergency shelter spaces, ensure immediate removal of abusers from homes, and provide support for helplines;

Ensure that gender equality is front and centre of their education response. School closures will exacerbate existing gender inequalities, particularly for the poorest girls. Governments must keep all girls engaged in learning, factor in gender considerations when planning for school resumption and make good on aid commitments;

Guarantee access to sexual and reproductive health services, including abortion, maternal health, and pre- and post-natal care. At this time of crisis, high unemployment and economic despair for millions, we also call for free menstrual and modern contraception products for girls and women;

Create public service messaging to encourage men to do fifty per cent of care and housework traditionally carried out by women;

Provide disaggregated gender data on the crisis to give healthcare professionals and policy makers the information needed to develop effective health and socio-economic responses; and

Include women as decision makers in local, national, and global emergency responses; in social and economic recovery efforts; and in how we strengthen our health systems post-pandemic.

For as the crisis intensifies around the world, it is clear that if we truly want to save lives and deliver health, wellbeing, and dignity for all, girls and women must be front and centre of, and included in the decision making of local, national and global emergency responses, in social and economic recovery efforts, and in how we strengthen our health systems post-pandemic – just as women are on the frontlines of the fight right now.

To read the full letter and to see the full list of signatories, click here.