Gender-Responsive Policies For A Post-Pandemic World

Context: Differential impacts of covid pandemic calls for transformative gender-responsive policy approaches.

International Efforts:

• The 25th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing last year, was intended to highlight gains in gender equality and empowerment.
• International Women’s Day 2020 on 8 March, is themed as ‘Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a covid-19 world’

Impact of COVID 19 through gender lens

• Neglect of gender focus: Evidence from past viral outbreaks like Ebola and Zika suggests less than 1% of published research papers focused on gender dimensions. Covid pandemic is no different.
  • Gender Equality: By 2021, 47 million women and girls will be pushed into poverty as a result of covid.- According to the United Nations (UN) Women and UN-Development Programme (UNDP) report- Gender Equality in the Wake of the Pandemic.
• Forced marriages: According to the Global Girlhood Report 2020, at least half a million girls were at risk of being victims of forced child marriages in 2020.
• Increased domestic workload: 51% of female respondents in Bihar, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh experienced an increase in domestic workload during nationwide lockdown, while just 23% of males did.
• Increased societal inequality: Covid has magnified the harmful effects of patriarchy and gender inequality on our society.

Way Forward: Transformative gender-responsive policy approaches – (Build Back Better)

1. Robust systems to safeguard women from gender violence: Ensure that mechanisms for reporting violence remain accessible even in crisis situations.
2. Assurance of sexual, health and reproductive rights within essential services.
3. Gender-inclusive social protection measures: For unpaid care-givers and economic support packages, aimed especially at the country's most vulnerable women.
4. Enhanced investment: in education (gender-responsive educational methods) and vocational training (low-tech, affordable) will lead to increased female labour force participation.
5. Adoption of behaviour-change communication strategies: To challenge false notions of masculinity, reduce persistent gender discrimination, and assure women greater agency and autonomy.