UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres highlighted the impacts of Covid-19 on women. “A pandemic amplifies and heightens all existing inequalities. With Covid-19, this is even more so,” said Guterres in a policy brief.
He highlighted the social and economic impacts of the pandemic on women across four areas: economic, health, unpaid care, and gender-based violence. Across every sphere, from health to the economy, security to social protection, the impacts of Covid-19 are exacerbated for women and girls simply by virtue of their sex.
He asked for inclusion of women and women’s organisations at the heart of the Covid-19 response; the transformation of the inequities of unpaid care work into a new, inclusive care economy that works for everyone; the designing of socio-economic plans with an intentional focus on the lives and futures of women and girls.
It is true that women are the majority of those employed in sectors the worst hit by business closures due to Covid-19, including the service sector and tourism. There is a need to put money in the hands of women through cash transfer programmes, expanding social protections including to informal workers, and alleviating the tax burden on women-owned businesses.