Pandemic Realities: Women On The Frontlines of Care

The COVID-19 pandemic has sent shockwaves across every country, impacting people’s daily interactions, and has wreaked economic havoc.

The pandemic has exposed a modern day reality: women still overwhelmingly bear the burden as family caregivers. This has also emphasized the structural inequalities that continue to exist in women’s personal and professional spheres. 

During this time of crisis, as macro – resources have become strained and institutional capacity shrunk, women and girls have faced disproportionate negative impacts with far-reaching consequences. These are only further amplified in contexts of fragility, conflict, and emergencies. Vice President Kamala Harris highlighted that throughout International Women’s History month, responding to the pandemic must shift from simply health to using this unprecedented time to resolve inequalities and build a resilient world with women at the center of recovery.

Women have been affected in every field, from health to the economy, security to social protection.

COVID-19 is driving a spike in domestic violence. This spike is fueled by money, health, and security stresses, movement restrictions, crowded homes, and reduced peer support. In several countries, domestic violence reports and emergency calls have surged upwards of 25% since social distancing measures were enacted. These numbers are also likely to reflect only the worst cases, as many domestic violence cases go unreported. With quarantine and movement restrictions, many women are trapped with their abusers and isolated from support networks. The closure of non-essential businesses means that work no longer provides respite for many survivors and heightened economic insecurity makes it more difficult for them to leave. For those who do manage to reach out, overstretched health, social, and police services are struggling to respond as resources are diverted to deal with the pandemic. 

Globally, women make up 70% of the health workforce, including nurses, midwives, and community health workers, as well as accounting for the majority of service staff in health facilities as cleaners and caterers. Despite these numbers, women are often not reflected in national or global decision-making on the response to COVID-19. Further, women are still paid much less than their male counterparts and hold fewer leadership positions in the health sector. Masks and other protective equipment designed and sized for men leave women at greater risk of exposure. 

Before the crisis started, women did nearly three times as much unpaid care and domestic work as men.

Social distancing measures, school closures, and overburdened health systems have put an increased demand on women and girls to cater to the basic survival needs of the family and care for the sick and the elderly. Existing gender norms have put the increased demand for unpaid childcare and domestic work on women as schools closed their doors. This constrains their ability to carry out paid work, particularly when jobs cannot be carried out remotely. The lack of childcare support is particularly problematic for essential workers and lone mothers who have care responsibilities.

Discriminatory social norms are likely to increase the unpaid workload of COVID-19 on girls and adolescent girls, especially those living in poverty or isolated locations. Evidence from past epidemics shows that adolescent girls are at particular risk of dropping out and not returning to school even after the crisis is over. Women’s unpaid care work has long been recognized as a driver of inequality with direct links to wage inequality, lower-income, and physical and mental health stressors.