Impacts of Covid-19 pandemic on women

Dr. Dharmakanta Kumbhakar

(The writer can be reached at drkdharmakanta@yahoo.com)

The Covid-19 pandemic devastated our lives in an unprecedented way. It had not only impacted our health but also affected our personnel life, psychological well-being, social life and economic sustainability. One can assume that the Covid-19 pandemic didn't discriminate against gender, equally affected the lives of men and women around the world, but this was simply not the case. Although everyone had been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, women and girls seemed to be shouldering the burden more than their male counterparts. New research has revealed that while men were affected more by the novel coronavirus than women both in contagion and mortality, women were especially affected more than men by the economic and social fallout during the Covid-19 pandemic. Across every sphere, from health to economy, the impacts of the pandemic were exacerbated for women and girls. The pandemic deepened the pre-existing inequalities between men and women, exposing vulnerability in personnel, social and economic systems, which were in turn, amplified the impacts of the pandemic.

Women make up about 70% of the workers in the health and social sector globally and constitute most health facility services, staff. They make up more than 85% of nursing personnel and healthcare workers, and almost half of the doctors worldwide. Therefore, women were at the frontlines of the Covid-19 response which put them at a higher risk of exposure to the virus. They tended to have particularly close and prolonged contact with Covid-19 cases, which put them at heightened risk of infection by the novel coronavirus. Data shows that female health workers were infected by the virus twice the rates of their male counterparts. The issue of inadequate and ill-fitting personal protective equipment (PPE) was likely to be a factor here as most PPE kits were sized primarily for men in all countries. The health and well-being of female care workers must get priority. Women must have a role in decision-making, which is presently less in this sector, and then only the female care workers will get the facilities.

Women took multiple responsibilities during the pandemic. The pandemic increased the duties of the girls and young women especially those who were caring for elderly and ill family members, as well as siblings who were out of school. The burden of unpaid care and domestic work exploded since the beginning of the pandemic, but women continued to shoulder the bulk of that work. Schools and day-care closures, along with reduced availability of outside help, led to months of additional work for women. Mothers took more childcare responsibilities during the pandemic than fathers. About 80% of mothers now say that they did most or all of the housework and homeschooling during the pandemic. The working mothers had to manage work from home along with childcare and online schooling responsibilities. Multiple responsibilities put several strains on the mental health of women. About 57% of mothers reported depression and anxiety compared to only one-third of fathers during the pandemic. It is a complex problem that's going to take time to solve.

Global lockdowns during the early period of the Covid-19 pandemic led to several women and girls being stuck at home with their perpetrators and incidents and reports of violence against them had been on the rise globally. The National Commission of Women in India also reported a surge in the reported cases of violence during the pandemic in India. As per the WHO, the global lockdowns left women and girls vulnerable to domestic, physical, mental and sexual violence as it had cut them off from social support and services. The violence on women resulted in injuries and serious physical, mental, sexual and reproductive health problems, including sexually-transmitted infections, HIV, and unplanned pregnancies. Violence not only negatively impacts women but also their families, the community and the nation at large. The local governments now must ensure accessibility and referral pathways to medical and psychosocial support, and mental health services for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence during that period.

The Covid-19 pandemic had major impacts on the health of girls and women. Restrictive social norms, gender stereotypes, home quarantining and diversion of resources to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic limited women's ability to access health services as well as making them more susceptible to health risks. Women's access to maternal and reproductive health services had been severely impacted due to Covid-19 emergency response and global lockdowns. Efforts to contain the outbreak diverted resources from routine health services including pre-and post-natal healthcare and contraceptives.

The burden of food shortages during the lockdown period tended to fall more on women, due to social norms where women eat last and least, which led women vulnerable to nutritional anaemia and malnutrition.

Emerging evidence on the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic suggests that women's economic and productive lives had been affected disproportionately and differently from men. Across the globe, women earn less, save less, hold less secure jobs, and are more likely to be employed in the informal sector. Women suffered more job losses than men under the Covid-19 lockdown, and their post-lockdown recovery had also been much lower. As per a report, about 11.5 million women lost their jobs compared to 9 million men during the pandemic globally. Some called it a 'she-cession'. Urban women reported a substantial or total loss of income during the lockdown. Those employed as domestic workers were laid off in large numbers; many went back to their villages, and most didn't return since they were not easily rehired. Even the women, who managed to find jobs, or re-established their trades as self-employed workers, had not had an equivalent restoration of incomes. Poorer women with limited or no revival in earnings had to deplete their meagre savings. Many became indebted and forced to sell their limited assets such as small animals, bits of jewellery, or even their tools of the trade, such as carts. The loss of assets seriously jeopardized their economic futures and raised the spectre of deepening poverty, even destitution. The local government must support these women economically to run their livelihood and establish their business for self-employed women.

The world is rebuilding today from the pandemic. The rebuild from the pandemic cannot be gender blind as impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic was more on women. It needs to factor in specific support needs for women as well. We all need to help in rebuilding a fairer, safer and more equal society. The NGOs and media need to continue advocating for women, and support gender-equitable action globally. It's a critical moment for women's rights organizations to work with governments for gender-equitable action in this regard.