Archive: Gender norms and the coronavirus

This article looks at concerns 50 years of progress on gender equality in the UK could be put into reverse unless government intervenes.

Published by: The Guardian

Women Respond is a new initiative to unpack the needs and realities of women and girls with whom CARE works around the world – many of whom are first responders in their communities. These voices are critical to strengthen how organisations, governments and donors should act to support those most impacted by the pandemic.

Published by: US AID - Learning Lab

Emerge has adapted and developed evidence-based survey measures on Covid-19 and gender for topics such as violence, agency, education, environment, time-use, family planning, sanitation, social support and others. It has also produced guidance on conducting phone surveys to understand the gendered impacts of the pandemic.

Published by: Emerge

This article explores the negative impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic on women in Africa. The article looks at health care provision, labour, domestic violence and makes policy recommendations for mainstreaming gender in government responses.

Published by: Brookings

Economic independence and social justice – the anchors of feminism and gender equality in India - have been hit hard by the affects of Covid-19. But will it impact feminism as a movement in post Covid-19 times? This blog takes a look.

Published by: Feminism in India

This paper looks at how to ensure the inclusion of marginalised women in fragile and conflict-affected states in Covid-19 prevention, response and recovery.

Published by: Women for Women International

Report looking at the impact of Covid-19 on women in India. The reprot analyses the key challenges including soical protection and welfare, health, food, education, livelihoods, and gender-based violence and also suggestions a roadmap for Covid-19 and women's collectives.

Published by: Initiative for What Works to Advance Women and Girls in the Economy

This multi-blog by experts from ODI looks at gender and Covid-19 in relation to leadership, violence, economic empowerment, education, health, social protection, youth, data and humanitarian contexts.

Published by: ODI

Experiences from previous pandemics show that women can be especially active actors for change, while they can also experience the effects of the crisis in different (and often more negative) ways. Given that the Covid-19 is not gender-blind, the response to it should not be either. Based on the existing evidence and emerging trends the note summarises key gender differentiated transmission channels and impacts on outcomes across the three areas of endowments, economic conditions, and agency.

Published by: World Bank Group

We know from experience that women’s voices are often excluded in a crisis, robbing us of vital insights into effective responses. We know that women step up to the plate when needed, but once a crisis is over, their contribution is often overlooked, their voices are silenced and there is a tendency to sink back into the old order – or worse.

Published by: Women Deliver

Latest research and analysis on the implications of the coronavirus pandemic worldwide from the Overseas Development Institute.

Published by: ODI

Data2X has compiled a running list of resources and reporting on gender and gender data relating to Covid-19 preparedness and response around the world.

Published by: Data 2X

The likelihood is though that despite both parents now being at home, much of the “domestic” work will still land squarely on the shoulders of the women of the house. Like the 1950s housewife, women will be expected to make exciting meals, keep the house clean and tidy and the children entertained – but she’ll also have to do all this while working from home.

Published by: The Conversation

This article reflects on the disproportionate impact on women’s domestic labour as well as the pre-conditions that allowed it to deepen inequalities (through unequal pay, women's increased domestic care burden, job insecurity etc.). It also laments how gender issues have been so underexplored or unacknowledged in previous health crises, e.g. in Sierra Leone more women died of obstetric complications between 2013-16 than Ebola, but the deaths were simply taken for granted.

Published by: The Atlantic

Reflecting a view from many northern countries, this article on Covid-19 in the USA describes the gender norms which assume women will take on the domestic roles, even whilst managing paid work schedules. Given the USA’s poor social protection (as a high-income country) the article highlights the inadequacies of individual responses in a pandemic. Government enacted policy solutions are urgently needed to women caregivers such as paid family leave, paid sick leave and other family-focused social programmes.

Published by: The Guardian

This much-cited paper on the effects of a life skills and livelihoods programme for girls and young women in Ebola-affected Sierra Leone highlights its role in maintaining education and a range of socially protective effects on younger girls.

Published by: World Bank

This blog reflects on the linkages between GBV in Latin America and Covid-19, with a focus on Peru, considering the structural and cultural drivers of GBV. The authors observe that progress in the region, towards shifting deeply entrenched societal attitudes that continue to devalue women’s bodies and lives, has been slow. In addition, no one saw Covid-19 coming. The number of emergency calls due to violence against women during Covid-19 increased in the region. This blog takes a closer look at how the situation has unfolded in Peru, where gender-based policies around physical movement have been implemented and violence against women has increased. The authors argue violence against women and girls during the pandemic is an extension of what happens during ‘normal’ times, and survivors face intensified but similar limitations in their attempts to seek justice and protection.

Published by: Feminist Review

This blog notes how Covid-19 has unleashed a wave of international concern for increasing violence inside the home and how inequalities in gendered power dynamics and toxic masculinities faced by women and children around the world are historical, where for too many women and children, home was never a safe place. The authors call for multi-sectoral efforts that address harmful social norms and increased global financial resources (beyond the current 0.002% of overseas development assistance targeted to GBV) to meaningfully make progress on this agenda.

Published by: Think Global Health

Violence against women has surged in Mexico since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, but the country’s president has downplayed the problem and slashed the budgets of agencies charged with addressing women’s issues.

Published by: The Guardian

Based on interviews with women’s right’s activists, government officials and secondary data, this report examines the impact of Covid-19 on violence against women and girls in Nigeria and entry points and effective strategies to address this issue. The report notes that women’s meaningful participation in formal decision-making was very low in Nigeria prior to the pandemic and this exclusion continues in Covid-19 response structures. While VAWG has gained greater public salience, there are few large-scale programmes that improve prevention and response. Similarly, GBV is not prioritized due to, for example, narratives around victim-blaming or lack of information on access to services. The report recommends a series of actions and responses in the next 3 to 6 months to prevent and respond to GBV.

Published by: UK AID

Governments need to do more to monitor and intervene to prevent violence against women during Covid-19 lockdowns, Human Rights Watch said today in a report to the United Nations special rapporteur on violence against women. The problem may be especially acute for women who face both discrimination and marginalization.

Published by: Human Rights Watch

This is a living document outlining the current evidence on GBV during Covid-19 as well as innovative solutions and recommendations for organizations to integrate GBV support into their response. It makes recommendations to be considered by all sectors of society at the onset, during, and after the public health crisis with examples of actions already taken. It also considers the role that gender norms play in exacerbating GBV or in accessing support such as the fact that women and girls in many countries may not have access to mobile phones, computers or the internet to access support services or to use them safely. Similarly, the brief notes the role of harmful gender norms in exacerbating social and economic inequalities due to the fact that women disproportionately work in insecure, lower-paid, part-time and informal employment, with little or no income security and social protection. These inequalities will place the most vulnerable groups of women at an even higher risk of violence.

Published by: UN Women

Based on the experience of South Africa, the authors indicate the role that alcohol and drugs, gender norms and beliefs about the roles of women in society, and childhood trauma play in increasing the likelihood that men will perpetrate violence against women, particularly during Covid-19. The authors note that the important questions to ask during this pandemic are not whether the violence has increased or decreased (which we cannot answer), but to ask about the impact of Covid-19 and social distancing measures on women and children, and whether they’ve been able to access services. The blog calls to undertake further research to better understand how women and families experienced the lockdown and what informed the reduction in reporting.

Published by: Sexual Violence Research Initiative

This note reviews rigorous studies that have analyzed how Covid-19 and related policies are impacting rates of violence against women (VAW) and children (VAC), and highlights more reliable methods, while acknowledging limitations of underlying data sources. A total of 17 studies were identified linking Covid to VAW and VAC. The studies mostly analyze police or call service data, and mostly in high-income countries with mixed results. The authors discuss some of the limitations of this type of reported data (e.g. seasonality or widespread underreporting due to stigma, shame, and fear of retaliation) as well as some outstanding research questions. For example, the authors identified that few studies examined violence against children, or violence outside the home; promising mitigation methods; or the effects of Covid-19 in low and middle-income countries.

Published by: Center for Global Development

This piece highlights the experiences of violence (such as harassment and psychological torture) suffered by India's LGBTQ community during Covid-19. Although a colonial-era law banning gay sex was scrapped in 2018, and transgender Indians have been legally recognised as a third gender since 2014, LGBTQ individuals still face widespread discrimination and violence inside their households and outside big cities. As LGBTQ Indians have increasingly turned to social media and online communities for support, many have also expressed a mounting urge to come out to their families.

Published by: Al Jazeera

This note reviews rigorous studies that have analyzed how Covid-19 and related policies are impacting rates of VAW/C and highlight more reliable methods, while acknowledging limitations of underlying data sources. It proposes recommendations for how to both broaden and deepen our collective understanding of how Covid-19 is impacting these forms of violence, and what can be done in response.

Published by: Centre for Global Development

This article looks at how Covid-19 has exposed just how much work remains to be done to wipe out female genital mutilation (FGM) around the world. Two million girls who would otherwise be safe from the practice are believed to be at risk over the next decade as a direct result of the virus.

Published by: The Guardian

This paper explores the potential short- and long-term implications of Covid-19 on the risk of intimate partner violence, highlighting some of the most recent preliminary data. It highlights how the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, record levels of male unemployment, added stressors in the home (including the care and home schooling of children), and the social distancing measures required by the epidemiological response, may serve to undermine the decades of progress made in keeping women and children safe at home.

Published by: American Journal of Criminal Justice

This paper looks at the disparities between men and women amidst Covid-19 recognising the role of gender norms in shaping men and women’s health across life stages. The authors note the importance of engaging men in Covid-19 responses, including those regarding domestic violence. The importance of mitigating household conflict and preventing men’s violent behaviour is emphasised, giving examples of different strategies such as conflict de-escalation, critical reflection through on-line discussion forums or violence prevention media that can play an important role in promoting healthy, non-violent behaviours among men and boys.

Published by: Global Public Health Journal

For its West Africa Rapid Gender Analysis - Covid-19, CARE interviewed a total of 266 people (52% women) representing the communities, technical and health ministries, UN agencies and international NGOs and women's rights organizations across 12 countries in West Africa. Special concern is paid to encroaching limitations to women’s access to resources, their representation and participation in formal decision-making; and the increased incidents of gender-based violence. For example, the report notes that the risk of domestic violence has grown more dire with the spread of the pandemic and increase in measures of confinement because those at risk of domestic violence are often trapped at home with their abusers. Economic abuse is also on the rise due to the inability of heads of households to meet family needs with limited resources. The loss of financial opportunities such as village savings and loan associations, which before the pandemic helped to mitigate violence, was also noted. The report ends with recommendations for mitigating and responding to gender-based violence during the pandemic.

Published by: CARE

This report by Plan International shares the voices of girls affected by Covid-19 and highlights lessons from previous emergencies and humanitarian crisis that can be useful at implementing better programming and responding. The report touches on the effects that harmful gender norms have on girls during previous emergencies such as increases in child marriage and unintended pregnancies or their tightened exposure to the virus due to their traditional roles as caregivers, reducing their ability to continue attending school. The report calls to action on important areas in the lives of adolescent girls such as education, economic support, child protection and GBV and sexual and reproductive health rights.

Published by: Plan International

This report explores the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on forced migrant survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and the organisations which support them across five countries: the UK, Turkey, Tunisia, Sweden and Australia. The reports highlights that this group already experienced vulnerabilities and precarity pre-Covid-19 due to their gender, care responsibilities and insecure immigration status, increasing their vulnerability to abuse and exploitation. The report offers the immediate recommendations during social distancing measures to governments, service providers and funders to protect the interests of forced migrants survivors.

Published by: University of Birmingham

This blog looks at the plight of Syrian refugee women in Lebanon and Jordan. Now living with the additional strain the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown measures have caused, the blog describes the increase of domestic violence and decrease in opportunities for women to work.

Published by: The New Humanitarian

This briefing note provides concrete actions and strategies from a gender norms perspective that UNDP, UN agencies and development partners can take to prevent and address GBV in the context of COVID-19. The brief begins by stressing that pre-existing toxic social norms and gender inequalities (accompanied by economic and social stress caused by the pandemic, coupled with restricted movement and social isolation measures) have led to an exponential increase in GBV. It calls for concrete actions to mainstream GBV prevention in non-GBV interventions, highlighting that all COVID-19 interventions must ensure that they do not reinforce or reproduce the existing power imbalances and patriarchal norms which not only underpin GBV but reproduces it.

Published by: UNDP

This article synthesises some of the existing reviews, articles and data, especially those published from the development and humanitarian sector, to study how gender is affected in multiple ways in the Covid-19 situation. It focuses particularly on how the response to Covid-19 has triggered higher rates of domestic violence across the globe, including India. The article notes the effects of the lockdown in reinforcing gender norms as women have greater responsibilities on household chores and care, while certain chores such as collecting water for the household may expose them to sexual abuse and exploitation. Similarly, as men are unable to meet gender expectations to provide for their households, women and children are more likely to suffer from violence. The paper offers recommendations on mitigation measures that countries can implement to tackle gender-based violence.

Published by: Indian Journal of Medical Ethics

This news reveals the ways that lockdowns and movement restrictions affect violence against transgender people in different cities in Latin America such as in Bogota, Colombia, where women can only go out on days with even-numbered dates and men on odd, while transgender people are allowed to choose. However, violence against transgender people has been taking place such as stabs, intimidation or enquiries at public places by police officers who question their gender identify.

Published by: Reuters

This report describes how different forms of gender-based violence (GBV) are likely to increase during the Covid-19 pandemic, creating more demand and greater need for services. Increased GBV can be observed in part due to movement restrictions that trap women and children in the household and potential loss of income by men. The report also highlights an increased stigmatisation against frontline workers, particularly female health workers, who may have been in contact with patients of Covid-19. Similarly, economic downturn can result in a spike in sexual exploitation and abuse as some groups (such as female headed households or sex workers) may be forced or coerced to provide sex in exchange for food. The report recommends measures to prevent, mitigate and respond to GBV.

Published by: IRC and Care

This is a living document developed by UN Women and WHO that summarizes principles and recommendations to those planning to embark on data collection on the impact of Covid-19 on violence against women and girls (VAWG). It was informed by the needs and challenges identified by colleagues in regional and country offices and has benefited from their input. It reminds us that existing data prior to the pandemic (on topics that we may have explored previously such as gender norms) can inform policy and programme responses. It responds to the difficulties of adhering to methodological, ethical and safety principles in the context of the physical distancing and staying at home measures imposed in many countries.

Published by: UN Women

This analysis shows how the Covid-19 pandemic could critically undermine progress made towards achieving UNFPA’s goals to ending gender-based violence including harmful practices such as female genital mutilation and child marriage. UNFPA predicts different outcomes of the pandemic on GBV such as: for every 3 months the lockdown continues, an additional 15 million additional cases of gender-based violence are expected; a 1/3 reduction in the progress towards ending FGM by 2030; an additional total 13 million child marriages taking place that otherwise would not have occurred between 2020 and 2030. UNFPA notes that the diversion of health and social programmes to pandemic control efforts as well as the economic downturn of the pandemic explain the estimated increases in GBV.

Published by: UNFPA

Gender-based violence (GBV) service provision during Covid-19: This short discussion note for GBV specialists explores low-tech ways to reach women and girls at risk of violence. This note provides a few ideas to the challenging problem of reaching survivors who cannot easily access phone-based GBV support. Some of these responses (such as non-verbal alerts) need to take into account various forms in different contexts depending on resources, cultural norms and safety. The note also provides suggestions of where GBV support services can be safely integrated, beyond traditional integration points such as healthcare settings.

Published by: UNICEF

This note provides a simple checklist for policy-makers, partners and UNICEF staff as they engage in the design and implementation of Covid-19 related social protection interventions, including those that can address and respond to gender-based violence. The note describes different ways in which Covid-19 exacerbates GBV (e.g. the distribution and intensity of unpaid care work, increase of child marriage affecting young girls, increased teenage pregnancy, etc). The note calls to ensure that social protection programming responds to the risks of GBV and integrate approaches to prevent and respond to GBV, including in risk and M&E frameworks. It recommends, integrated cash plus components from clear information on referral services for survivors of violence, to offering digital parenting modules to prevent GBV and violence against children alongside cash distribution and monitoring, to training frontline social protection and health workers in response to disclosures.

Published by: UNICEF

This blog, which is part of a longer multi-blog on Covid-19 and gender, looks at the impact the pandemic and its resultant restrictions on public movement are having on gender-based violence, as well as measures being taken to protect those affected.

Published by: ODI

Gender norms underpin gender-based violence. The rising pandemic of gender-based violence alongside Covid-19 highlights the need for continued and upscaled work to change these norms. Norms also influence what is prioritised in emergency response. The gender-based violence pandemic highlights the importance of designating support services such as shelters and helplines as emergency services that can be accessed during lockdowns.

Published by: UN Women

This blog reflects on the effects of Covid-19 on violence against women across the world and highlights the efforts by civil society organisations to provide or connect vulnerable women with services that prevent and respond to SGBV. The authors give the example of Colombia and how organisations have identified that many of the women contacting them are mothers, and their concern is not only individual but for the whole family. Many of these women are also forced to live with past aggressors and those who attempt to denounce the violence to public officials are told that “woman, try to create a peaceful environment, so your man doesn’t get angry.” The blog reflects and give lessons on how to protect the rights of women and girls within the Covid-19 response.

Published by: Development Pathways

This document is intended to support non-GBV specialist humanitarian actors to identify Covid-19, GBV-specific risks in eleven different sectors (e.g. child protection, education, health, livelihoods, WASH), and take actions to mitigate those risks. The guidelines begin by highlighting the role that gender norms play during health crises in part due to women’s typical take on additional physical, psychological and time burdens as caregivers. It also notes that women are likely to make up the majority of the workforce (staff and volunteers) for some response sectors (i.e. child protection, education, health and nutrition), which is likely to increase their workloads at home as well. This document presents an initial summary of potential GBV risk mitigation actions, based on established good practice, that are starting points to address GBV risks in this unprecedented situation. The GBV risk mitigation actions summarized in this guidelines is presented as a working document that will be further refined as the situation and the response continues to evolve.

Published by: Global Protection Cluster and the Inter-Agency Standing Committee

This LSE blog provides data from surveys of male and female perceptions of the danger of Covid-19 and explains differences in terms of masculine attitudes and behaviours, which may make men more vulnerable.

Published by: London School of Economics and Political Science

A useful article explaining how Covid-19 is experienced by men whose cultures reinforce macho stereotypes. This includes men’s physical and emotional vulnerabilities, social isolation and male led pandemic responses.

Published by: The Conversation

The early evidence leaves little doubt that Covid-19 poses a greater risk to men – but are the reasons biological or cultural?

Published by: The Guardian

This piece notes that women are experiencing the emotional brunt of Covid-19, experiencing more anxiety than men with some evidence also showing that women’s employment is more likely to be impacted. Women are also more likely to be front line health staff, caring for children and older relatives and also more at risk of self-isolating with an abusive partner. All of which equates with them facing increase stress and anxieties compared to men.

Published by: The Guardian

Focused on humanitarian contexts, this piece highlight the multiple factors that can cause mental ill-health in such contexts, noting also that appropriate responses are often neglected. The COVID-19 crisis will exacerbate the need for such mental health responses. It concludes on a positive note by suggesting that this crisis could also be an opportunity to invest in and find ways to prioritize long neglected essential interventions and learn from them, in this case mental health ones.

Published by: Devex

This blog makes a plea to include how social realities also need to be taken into account when addressing the mental health effects of Covid-19. In particularly, the author highlights the need to address social and economic conditions as well as inequalities and poverty that contribute to poor mental health.

Published by: Nature Research Journal

This position paper calls for multidisciplinary mental health research related to Covid-19 including its psychological, social, and neuroscientific effects, drawing also on the expertise of people with lived experiences. It discusses priorities based on a rapid survey done in the UK (which is differentiated by age and gender) and informed by an expert panel and suggests there is urgent need to address the mental health consequences for vulnerable groups.

Published by: The Lancet

We asked how to prevent suicides caused by the pandemic. This is what experts told us

Published by: The Lancet

Covid-19 has clearly shown that Public Health infrastructure must be fortified, and women’s mental health urgently needs to be a priority. Covid-19 has affected women much more profoundly, (even though the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CCDC) found the fatality rate for men to be higher than women) due to various social, cultural and economic factors, meaning women are facing a sharp increase in caregiving responsibilities, with even less freedom, space, or economic security.

Published by: The Times of India

Two surveys carried out in the UK to help inform the framing of priorities for mental health research in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic. The data is separated by age and gender and was carried out through Ipsos online survey platform.

Published by: The Academy of Medical Sciences

Four months into the Covid-19 pandemic, there is a growing awareness for norm collisions between the right to life and well-being associated with the virus on the one hand and a broad array of other norms. This blog discusses the politics surrounding COVID-19 as being, fundamentally, about difficult decisions on hierarchies between norms in cases where they collide.

Published by: Duck of Minerva

This article looks at research suggesting female leaders are managing their country's response to Covid-19 more successfully than their male counterparts and what attributes may be causing the difference.

Published by: The Guardian

This high level convening brought together women leaders to discuss how to 'put women at the centre of decision-making' in the Covid-19 response. The meeting notes here lay out some of the critical areas of concern for women leaders, and begins to lay out some thinking on what efforts across sectors can be doing to better situate women's rights and needs more directly in the agendas of the response effort.

Published by: OECD

As Covid-19 continues to touch every country, it is clear the amplification of women’s voices is a global concern. But recognising the urgency of inclusion is just one step. How can we ensure transformative social changes that will enhance women’s representation, in real time, when crisis hits?

Published by: Think Global Health

This blog looks at UN Resolution 1325 which recognises how women and girls are deferentially impacted by conflict and war and the critical role women can and already do play in peace building efforts. As the world deals with the Coronavirus pandemic, this resolution matters - possibly more than ever, including for the private sector, this blog explains why.

Published by: Forbes

As COVID-19 exposes gaps in the world's pandemic response infrastructure — and challenges our collective social, political, and economic systems — we are faced with an opportunity to tackle the defining issue undermining global health infrastructure: inequality.

Published by: Devex

New research reveals the gendered impacts of Covid-19 on livelihoods in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.

Published by: Cenfri

This briefing examines the economic implications of Covid-19 for women and girls, and concludes with recommendations for a gender-sensitive response.

Published by: CARE

This article highlights the impacts of lockdown on a stigmatised social group – sex workers – and their exclusion from social protection initiatives.

Published by: The Guardian

This article highlights the effects of Covid-19 on informal sector workers, with a particular focus on the agricultural workforce. It highlights some of the specific gendered effects as well as the ways in which intersecting inequalities put different groups at risk of losing livelihoods and extreme poverty.

Published by: FAO

This article highlights the effects of Covid-19 on women workers in the tea sector in Sri Lanka. While they are able to work, living and work conditions increase the risk of contracting the virus and of a wide range of social impacts.

Published by: The Guardian

Health care professional bodies, experts and trade unions have warned that female healthcare workers’ lives are being put at risk because personal protective equipment is designed for men and is risking lives of female workers.

Published by: The Guardian