Who cares? Feminist responses to the pandemic

Across Asia, women are being hit hard by the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdowns and partial shutdowns have dire implications across all strata of society. But informal workers are particularly hard hit, and the majority are women, many of them the head of household. The loss of wages deprives these families of money they need for rent and daily necessities, exposing them to hunger, malnutrition and infection.

The pandemic has also exposed the essential role of women’s unpaid care work for both economies and societies. In Asia, women already spend 4.1 times more of their time on unpaid care work than men. Men across the region spend on average one hour per day on unpaid care work, but just half an hour in India and Pakistan. Under lockdown conditions, in addition to childcare and household chores, women are now confronted with additional responsibilities, such as home schooling, more intense care of the sick and community care.

Women who are juggling care responsibilities with the need to earn money are more likely to be self-employed, to work in the informal economy and to have no paid sick leave or other social protection.

Feminist recommendations—What will be left in the post-crisis economy?

The impact of the pandemic on global markets is destroying the livelihoods of women in vulnerable sectors around the world. For those who make it through, their ability to get back on track will be affected by gender biases, class and race.

Feminists have long been demanding greater recognition of the contribution of women’s work to national income, economic growth, national efficiency and productivity. The urgency of this has been emerging with more force as the crisis unfolds. Research on previous pandemics, such as Ebola, have found a significant negative impact on women’s long-term health and economic vulnerability even after the crisis.

Civil society activists worldwide have been quick to raise their concerns, share resources online, call for solidarity and demand gender-responsive state policies to address the extraordinary challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. UN Women in Asia and the Pacific took stock of the first 100 days of the COVID-19 outbreak in the Asia-Pacific region and now seek to ensure that the world post-COVID is built on principles of human rights and gender equality.

The policy recommendations and demands are about the inclusion of women and marginalized groups in all aspects of life, including groups particularly vulnerable in many Asian countries, such as women migrant and informal workers. For example, special attention should be paid to the gender impact of digitalization and access to information and communication technology in light of the shift to online education and remote work, which is problematic in many parts of the region, where the digital gender gap is wide. UN Women also recommends more sharing of emerging and good practices from the region to address the challenges.