The Problem

In times of crises, women and girls consistently suffer greater loss of life, not only in poor and low-income countries but also in high-income countries. They also face what have been described as “double disasters” due to increased gender-based violence, loss of jobs and livelihoods, impaired reproductive and sexual health, and increases in forced marriages, migration, and trafficking. Women and girls struggle to be heard and rarely are in the leadership positions to make decisions that could save themselves, their families, and communities. Emerging research on the gendered impacts of COVID-19 shows women at increased risk of infection as frontline workers, and they shoulder most of the carework for children, elders, and sick community members, even when men are quarantining or working from home. Simultaneously, funding for gender equality initiatives has decreased, increasing competition for the funding that remains. Minoritized women and girls are further marginalized, and as a result, gender inequality is on the rise.

COVID-19 is exacerbating the social inequalities and intersectional injustices upon which patriarchal institutions thrive. Despite calls to put gender equality on the backburner in the face of other concerns, times of crisis offer critical opportunities to rethink, reorganize, and subvert unequal gender configurations that are not emancipatory. A feminist response to COVID-19 is one that endeavors not only to minimize the harmful effects of oppressive societal structures that disadvantage many women and girls, but to catalyze action that will build more equal societies for the future. By taking advantage of this opportunity to inspire change, governments and civil society leaders can initiate a process of international recovery that tackles the root causes of longstanding inequalities, both between people and between nations, and hence ensure that there will be greater resilience in the context of future crises.

This chapter provides an overview of how COVID-19 is exacerbating gender inequality and provides recommendations for an intersectional feminist policy response.