How COVID-19 has Drastically Impacted Women
The Coronavirus has morphed into a global pandemic of not only death and human suffering, but it has also caused a worldwide social and economic crisis, as well. This is especially true for millions of women and girls across the globe, many who are only now beginning to reap the benefits of increased equality in both the home and the workplace. COVID-19 has exposed pre-existing vulnerabilities for females across the board — in education, health, and economic systems. The result is this: by diminishing women’s access to health care, exploiting domestic violence, and possibly eliminating education permanently for millions of girls around the world, much of the progress made in recent decades may well be in jeopardy.
As the pandemic began to spread, several countries implemented aggressive lockdown and travel bans in hopes of decreasing the number of cases. The WHO (World Health Organization) decided abortion is an essential part of healthcare, and services must be available even where non-urgent or planned services are suspended, but many governments did not implement this decision. Instead, many countries decided to limit women’s sexual or reproductive health services by shutting down both private and public clinics. India, for example, deemed these services to be “non-essential.” According to the Human Rights Watch, Brazil, parts of Africa, and Latin America went one step further by suspending contraception access to women. During the lockdown, the UNPF (United Nations Population Fund) estimated that at least 7 million unintended pregnancies occurred, with potentially thousands of deaths from unsafe abortion practices and complicated births due to inadequate access to emergency care. This became an extremely problematic decision which not only denied women access to time-sensitive and life-saving services, but also distanced them from already difficult-to-access health care. The United Nations for Gender Equality estimates that at least 243 million women experienced sexual or physical abuse in the last months as people were “trapped” inside their homes, many with their abuser.
While there is already a disparity of pay and opportunity between women and men in the workforce, the COVID-19 crisis has amplified this issue to an extreme. Typically women earn less, save less, and hold less secure jobs when compared to men in the workforce. Women usually have fewer opportunities than their male co-workers and have to work harder than men to be seen and heard. For these reasons, women are less able to absorb and adapt to the economic shock of COVID-19 as they are the ones more likely to quit their job(s) to take care of their children during the lockdown. During the Ebola outbreak in 2013, women endured higher levels of unemployment than men, and subsequently, it took them longer to re-enter the workforce. The need to keep women working is vital in undeveloped countries, as poverty levels skyrocket during high levels of disease and outbreaks. For many women being fired or quitting a job due to unprecedented circumstances means they are less likely to be hired in the future.
Along with exploiting the vulnerabilities of women, the pandemic has been detrimental to the education of children, especially girls. The UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) estimated that the pandemic was preventing 1.58 billion children from attending school. Some of these children may never return to their classrooms. There is no question that, due to cultural and historical norms, the education of girls in many countries has been neglected for thousands of years, and in some places it still is. It is a fact, however, that when girls receive the benefits of an education, stronger families, stronger communities, and improved economies, especially in under developed countries, will follow. An educated female population increases a country’s productivity and oftentimes fuels economic growth. Schools are often the safest environment for vulnerable girls. Given the opportunity, girls can learn social skills, job skills to make them financially stronger in the future, and build confidence, as well.
Overall, COVID-19 has harshly impacted women globally as they have been brutally affected in areas including health, the workforce and schools. These closures reinforce the stereotypes that women have been fighting against since the beginning of time: that they must stay home at the expense of their independence.
