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| Source:www.ft.com |
The COVID19 pandemic has proven that in the UK, and across the world, women are crucial in maintaining a functioning society.
Globally,
women make up over half of the workforce in what are considered ‘key-workers’. This
includes nurses, doctors, and health-care workers, cashiers in supermarkets, those
working in education, among other public services.
In the UK,
60% of key-workers are women – without these women, systems like the NHS would
have started facing a collapse much earlier than it already has.
Yet despite
their huge importance in the battle against COVID19, it is ultimately women who
will continue to disproportionately suffer as a result of this crisis, and in a
multitude of ways, whether that be their economic autonomy, or physical safety.
Regardless, the independence of women across the world is suffering hugely.
With most schools
and day cares closed, and many unable to provide care for vulnerable children or the children of key-workers, COVID19 has, for the time being, destroyed the notion
that both men and women are now welcomed to the ability to work whilst knowing
their child is being cared for.
Almost 30%
of the key-workers in the UK with children have a partner who is also a key-worker.
Combine this with the huge numbers of non-essential workers who are unfortunately
still expected to come into work despite the national requirements of staying
at home, you end up with a much larger number of women asking themselves “who
will have to focus their efforts on the children?”
On average,
women bring the secondary incomes to a household. In many cases, their jobs are
being looked at as lower value, especially in light of this crisis, so the
answer to that question becomes simple. Sadly, the reality is, it is usually the
father who can earn more during virtual meetings and working from home, than a woman
can during her shift at the supermarket.
With lock-downs and ‘stay at home’ campaigns in place, people often fail to recognise that thousands
of people do not have a safe environment to quarantine in.
Levels of
domestic violence are increasing drastically across almost every nation. The
virus outbreak has caused almost every one of us to feel like we have very
little control over how we are living our lives. This in turn, potentially has
severe impacts on how abuse victims are being treated during their time in home
quarantine, and unfortunately access to shelters and organisations is proving
to be much more difficult than it usually is.
Ultimately the
COVID19 pandemic is aggravating existing social-economic inequalities. In addition
to racism, discrimination and classism, sexism is now at an all-time high.
COVID19 has
become a feminist issue.
The Centre
for Feminist Foreign Policy, an organisation working towards an intersectional approach
in all global foreign policies has created a list of actions to ensure everyone
can be protected from this crisis.
The CFFP COVID19
campaign includes:
·
Investing
in critical infrastructure for women and everyone affected by sexualised/domestic
violence.
·
Increasing
the salaries of nurses and caregivers. Making sure they get the respect and
resources they deserve, both now and later.
·
Increasing
the salaries of those working in supermarkets. Making sure they get the respect
and resources they deserve, both now and later.
·
Ensuring
that financial support packages not only target the paid economy but also the
unpaid economy.
·
Ensuring
single parents (9/10 are women) get the financial support they need.
Thank you for reading!
Aman
