Gender Equality During the Covid19 Pandemic
Essentially, humanity has gone through a variety of challenges and crisis over the years; and each time various social issues become visible. In as much as people have conquered each problem and rose back to their feet, there have been deep scars left in society. Most of these scars have been unexplored or somewhat ignored as soon as the pandemics were over. Nonetheless, this paper seeks to expose these social issues by focusing on gender equality during the current Covid19 crisis. Arguably, women and children always suffer most during the problem, and history might be repeating its self in the current situation. This paper aims to explore the issue on different levels. First, the report will offer a background on the social issue and then perform system analysis on the influence of the social problem. Further, the paper will critique the previous efforts to tackle the problem by analyzing the competition to behaviour and social change. Finally, the paper will discuss the implications of the analysis and offer a reflection on possible solutions to the issue that can be adopted by future social marketing programs.
Background
Essentially, women suffer most during pandemics due to their disadvantaged position in society. Many women have lower job security, earnings, and many often live close to the poverty lines at regular times. Crises often act as a tool to amplify and expose the social, political, and economic inequalities that women face. According to Baroni et al., women feel the impact of crisis more than men. For instance, during the financial crisis, they often had to work harder, hold more jobs and still take up the household responsibilities such as child care. There is arguably a disproportion in the capacity to deal with the crisis between both genders. In as much as the problem affect everyone, women and girls have lower coping capabilities to deal with the loss of employment, increased household duties, poverty, and high domestic violence.
Gender inequality takes up different forms during pandemics. First, epidemics often come along with financial distress as many people lose employment and other sources of income. According to Blackburn, 2018, during the Spanish Flu, women had to take up more roles during the pandemic, and this led to the unequal division of labour. Arguably, in addition to their domestic roles, women ended up taking the work of many men who died during the crisis. The subject of labour affects more than just the parts of women in society. For instance, during the Covid19 pandemic, research indicates that many women and the less-educated in the community were hit hardest by the loss of employment.
Also, even though women’s employment accounts for only about 39% of the total global workforce, their loss of jobs during the pandemic has been as high as 54%. Arguably, this does not even cover the amount of unpaid labour that women perform at home (Blackburn, 2018). Children and the elderly are at home during the pandemic, and it is the role of women to take care of them. Equally important, women make up a larger proportion of social and health care workers globally. Most importantly, it is the women in the society that have been in the more significant part of the frontline to combat the virus. According to Linde and Laya 2020, women make up to 70% of the employment in the healthcare sector, but still, they remain the most underpaid as compared to the male-dominated sectors. In addition to their input in the health sector, they still care for their families and the elderly in society with inadequate resources. This means that the Covid19 pandemic further extrapolates the already existing gender inequality in employ.
Another aspect of gender inequality that is arguably profound during the pandemic is the increase in domestic violence. When the coronavirus pandemic started spreading around the world at the beginning of the year 2020, many countries went into temporary lockdown. This meant that there were travel restrictions between states and international flights were banned in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus. The lockdowns initiated by the authorities were meant to confine people to their homes and ensure social distancing. However, there have been implications of the same; domestic conflicts and violence have been on the rise (Morse and Anderson, 2020). Further research indicates that gender-based violence has spiked to up to three times the typical cases in countries such as China. This can be attributed to the changing domestic roles, financial distress, and emotional stress as a result of the pandemic. Arguably, the attempt to confine the virus has also confined women to their homes and the mercy of their abusers.
The covid19 pandemic has also led to an increase in maternal mortality, teenage pregnancies and sexual offences towards women. Essentially, since the epidemic began, government efforts, especially in the health and social sectors, have been channelled towards fighting the virus (Morse and Anderson, 2020). Many health clinics have been converted into Covid19 response and isolation centres while schools and many learning institutions have all been shut down. Despite the intended objectives of such operations, the changes leave women and children more vulnerable to other crises. This is especially the case with pregnant women or those living with HIV and AIDs. The access to medication and health care has been dramatically affected by government restrictions and the diversion of resources to the crisis.
The lockdown has arguably reduced the access to contraceptives, safe abortion, contraceptives and maternal care. Morse and Anderson, 2020 further comment that during crises, such as Ebola in West Africa, the rates of maternal related deaths increased by 70%. This shows that the pandemic does affect the health of the population not only directly but also indirectly. It brings down, years of hard work and initiatives to empower women in society and ensure gender equality. Teenagers at home during the pandemic are more exposed to sexual offences and may even end up contracting infections. Most of the young generation are at home and with little or no moral guidance since both parents are occupied in economic activities. The girls are left more vulnerable, and they fall prey to the idle sex offenders in the community. With little access to contraceptives and safe abortions, the rates of teenage pregnancies continue to rise.
System Analysis
A system analysis of gender describes the relationships between men and women in society concerning a variety of factors. To begin with, gender can be described as a culturally constructed phenomenon outlining the differences between sexes. This phenomenon outlines different roles and responsibilities of people in a society in terms of politics, leadership, economic contribution and labour. Arguably, for many years, women have held a lower position in society and have mostly been subordinate to men. This is visible through many avenues, such as the political arena where women have always held lower offices or even no leadership positions at all. The previously male-dominated arena has over the years seen significant changes to include women in decision making and policy formulation. In that regard, the impact of the Covid19 pandemic on gender relations has mostly been felt due to the issue of gender representation in policymaking. Besides, women have been left with the role of physically caring for infected patients while most of the strategic planning has been left to men.
Additionally, the role of women in society has traditionally been the reproductive function while men assumed the productive role. The traditional role of women as caregivers and homemakers has often led to their discrimination. Presumably, women’s role was primarily to give birth, take care of their families and only perform small activities with no significant economic gain. Even with the substantial changes in the dynamics of gender roles, women still occupy less than half of the employment sector, 39% (Blackburn, 2018). Similarly, the women dominated sector is the health care department. This goes to show that there is still a long way to go in addressing the issue of gender roles. During the pandemic, the health workers are the most overworked and ironically the most underpaid. The discrimination surges further into other sectors of employment where women have been the most hit by layoffs and loss of jobs.
Further, women have not entirely gained full access to resources. These include time, political, economical and productive resources. Significantly, men have had the most access and control of these resources, and this has biasedly affected the input and development of women in society. Andrews 2020 argues that the roles of women in society are disproportionate to the resources available to them. The main question should be whether women and men have equal access and benefits to the resources in the community. To answer this, one should consider the part women play mostly in the covid19 crisis. To begin with, women have to home-school their children, clean, and perform more unpaid labour at home. “These are hours that could be spent on income generation,” (Donner, 2020). Further, most of the impacts of the pandemic are felt by women who ironically do not have much power in the decision making processes during the epidemic. On that note, it is evident that women have limited access to the resources that could ultimately rid them of the discriminations. This, coupled with the high rates of domestic violence, has continually increased gender inequality.
Competition to behaviour and social change
Different hindrances have generally met efforts to affect behaviour change. First, the issue of gender inequality is deep-rooted, and it will take more time to change the traditional and culturally constructed perspectives regarding gender. Further, most women are not fully informed about their rights and roles in changing societies. This means that the majority of women still adhere to their traditional roles. Further, behaviour and social change have not fully been realized since many women suffer in silence and don’t have platforms to air their grievances. Moreover, limited employment opportunities favour men over women. Most industries which employed women include tourism, transport and the hotel industry. These have all been hit hard by the crisis, and as a result, women are left jobless. The male-dominated sectors, such as construction and mining, are still undertaking their operations.
There have been different approaches to address the issue of gender equality during the Covid19 pandemic. First, according to ILO 2020, efforts to curb the spread of Covid19 should be coupled with the fight to end gender discrimination if the world is to attain full recovery. The organization also proposed that the world leaders should initiate strategies to improve social protection, affordable health care, and offer support in kind to affected communities globally. According to UNAIDS 2020, further, plans have been put in place to allocate resources to help counter the problem of domestic violence, boost women-owned-businesses, and ensure equal inclusion of girls in education forums during the crisis. Arguably, the initiatives put in place appear to tackle most of the issues related to gender equality. Nonetheless, there is a need to be specific in the approaches. The solutions are somewhat generalized, and unless each problem is handled individually, the problem will persist in the long run.
After a concrete analysis of the problem, the research offers several reflective recommendations which might help solve the social situation. First, offering aid does not permanently eradicate poverty and gender discrimination. Women do not want material help; rather, there is a need to ensure total behaviour and social change. Giving alms proves that women are still considered weak. The best solution to the problem is to ensure women have the same access to resources as men. Social marketing intended to effect change should focus on creating avenues for women to gain economic independence. Policies should be established to ensure women, especially in the health sector, are paid better and have more resources, security, and protection to perform their duties safely.
Further, social marketing should advocate for behaviour change, especially regarding domestic violence. Arresting perpetrators is just a temporary solution. Unless society is informed and alienated from the traditional social constructions of gender-based violence, permanent change cannot be achieved. Governments should ensure that women still have access to health care facilities amidst the efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus. Equally important, Strict policies should be put in place to tilt the balance in the employment sector. Women should have equal employment opportunities as men, and they should also not be discriminated during layoffs as in the case of the Covid19 pandemic. All in all, the best solution to eliminating gender inequality is empowering women. This can be achieved by easing their access to resources and including them in decision making, especially during the pandemic.
References
Andrews, M., 2020. Council Post: Gender Equality in The Midst Of A Pandemic. [online] Forbes. Available at: <https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2020/08/03/gender-equality-in-the-midst-of-a-pandemic/#ac21334d518f> [Accessed 28 August 2020].
Baroni, N., Dokmanovic, M., Tisheva, G. and Sikazwe, E., 2009. Gender Equality and The Financial Crisis. [online] ResearchGate. Available at: <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277197727_Gender_Equality_and_the_Financial_Crisis> [Accessed 28 August 2020].
Blackburn, C., Parker, G. and Wendelbo, M., 2018. How The 1918 Flu Pandemic Helped Advance Women’S Rights. [online] Smithsonian Magazine. Available at: <https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-1918-flu-pandemic-helped-advance-womens-rights-180968311/> [Accessed 28 August 2020].
Donner, F., 2020. How Women Are Getting Squeezed by The Pandemic. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/20/us/women-economy-jobs-coronavirus-gender.html> [Accessed 28 August 2020].
ILO, 2020. COVID-19: G7 Nations Need to Get Gender Equality Right for A Better Future for Women At Work. [online] Ilo.org. Available at: <https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_744753/lang–en/index.htm> [Accessed 28 August 2020].
Linde, A. and Laya, A., 2020. What The COVID-19 Pandemic Tells Us About Gender Equality. [online] World Economic Forum. Available at: <https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/05/what-the-covid-19-pandemic-tells-us-about-gender-equality/> [Accessed 28 August 2020].
MORSE, M. and ANDERSON, G., 2020. How The COVID-19 Crisis Is Exacerbating Gender Inequality. [online] unfoundation.org. Available at: <https://unfoundation.org/blog/post/shadow-pandemic-how-covid19-crisis-exacerbating-gender-inequality/> [Accessed 28 August 2020].
UNAIDS, 2020. UNAIDS Highlights Six Critical Actions To Put Gender Equality At The Centre Of COVID-19 Responses. [online] Unaids.org. Available at: <https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/featurestories/2020/june/20200615_gender-equality-at-the-centre-of-covid-19-responses> [Accessed 28 August 2020].
White, O., Madgavkar, A., Krishnan, M., Mahajan, D. and Azcue, X., 2020. COVID-19 And Gender Equality: Countering The Regressive Effects. [online] McKinsey & CO. Available at: <https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/covid-19-and-gender-equality-countering-the-regressive-effects#> [Accessed 28 August 2020].