Covid-19 pandemic hitting women hard, says UN survey
Most nations are failing to provide enough social and economical protection for women since the Covid-19 pandemic, two UN agencies said on Monday, reports Xinhua.
Tracking of government policies around the world since the Covid-19 outbreak implies that the pandemic is “hitting women hard”.
The Covid-19 Global Response Tracker from UN Women and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) found not enough is being done to safeguard women and girls from the monetary and social fallouts caused by the pandemic.
The survey says women have often become victims of domestic violence “locked down with their abusers, as unpaid caregivers in families and communities, and as staff in jobs that lack social protection”, said executive director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, reports UN News.
Lacking support
The survey signals that one-fifth of the 206 countries analysed, or 42 States, had no gender-sensitive measures in spot to react to the pandemic. And only 25 countries have introduced measures targeted at tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG), support unpaid care and strengthen women’s financial security.
These can include helplines, shelters or legal support to counter the surge in violence; cash transfers directly targeted at women; or childcare services and paid sick leave.
“The Covid-19 crisis provides an chance for countries to transform the prevailing monetary models towards a renewed social contract that prioritizes social justice and gender equality,” said UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner.
“This new gender response tracker might help accelerate policy reform by guiding on gaps in national efforts and funding and highlighting best practices.”
Breakdown
Across 135 countries, the tracker determined 704 measures to prevent and/or react to VAWG. Of these, 63 percent centered on strengthening essential services, such as shelters, helplines and other reporting mechanisms.
However, only 48 countries, significantly less than a quarter of these analyzed, treated VAWG-related services as a fundamental element of their national and local Covid-19 response plans - with hardly any adequately funding these measures.
At the same time, social protection, care crisis and jobs response have already been largely blind to women’s needs, with only 177 measures in 85 countries explicitly aimed at strengthening women’s economic security, and just 60 taking action to aid unpaid care and strengthen care services for children, older persons or individuals with disabilities.
Varying responses
The tracker also implies that gender actions vary widely across countries and regions.
In line with the analysis, Europe is leading the response on addressing VAWG and unpaid care - accounting for almost 32 per cent of all violence measures and 49 percent of all unpaid care measures.
Meanwhile, the USA has the major number of measures targeted at strengthening women’s economical security, accompanied by Africa.
“The Global Tracker supports governments to make the proper policy decisions by sharing good practices and monitoring progress in care policies and measures to address violence against women,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
