Covid’s gender skew: We must not allow the pandemic to erase the gains in women’s empowerment

This past week I was able to tune in to a series of webinars organised by Landesa – a non-profit organisation that partners with local governments and organisations to secure legal land rights for the world’s poorest families and women. The three topics for the webinar were extremely pertinent in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. The first one focussed on women’s housing and land rights in the context of the pandemic. This was followed by eviction response during and after the pandemic. While the final discussion revolved around migration, displacement and de-urbanisation in the context of Covid. Each of the sessions had panellists from around the world who had vast grassroots experience working on land rights and associated human rights.

Here I would like to highlight some of the main points of the first discussion that looked at the impact of Covid on women. The panellists were in agreement that the pandemic was a widow-maker and therefore put a huge socio-economic burden on women. In the African nation of Liberia, the lockdown to contain the spread of Covid has increased poverty and unemployment of women, most of whom work in the informal sector and provide crucial supplementary income for their families. Additionally, Liberia had passed in 2018 a gender-equal land law to ensure equal access to land for women. Ground reports suggest that the implementation of that law has taken a substantial hit in light of Covid.

Moving to Brazil, which currently has nearly 500,000 Covid cases – the second largest number of cases in the world — while registering around 29,000 deaths from the disease, the pandemic has accentuated the huge inequalities in that society. With 30% of the Brazilian population already suffering from extreme poverty and 55% of families employed in the informal sector – the most directly affected segment of the economy due to Covid – the pandemic has literally been a lightning bolt for Brazil. In particular, black women in Brazil are extremely vulnerable. Not only are they on the medical frontlines as nurses and support staff, they are also at the bottom of the economic pyramid, as a result of which they have to choose between being able to feed their families and protecting themselves from getting infected.

Meanwhile, in Kenya reports have come in of widows being thrown out and abandoned by their extended families under the pretext of Covid. Additionally, the pandemic also appears to be hindering women’s access to sanitation. All of these global examples show that Covid is actually exacerbating existing gender inequalities. In fact, there is a great danger that whatever gains that have been made in gender equality over the last few decades could be erased due to Covid. For, as the world goes through a global economic crash and livelihood resources become scarce, the old patriarchal mores will reassert themselves to claim more than the lion’s share for men.

This means women could rapidly see a decline in their participation in the labour force with jobs being cornered by men. Similarly, since gender-equal land rights in most parts of the world are yet to be durably established, there is bound to be increased contestation around land that could disempower women. This would be a huge blow for society. After all, evidence shows that when women are gainfully employed, have equal access to education and enjoy decision-making authority, then their families — including male members — do better both economically and socially.

Besides, the current Covid crisis requires all of humanity to rally around. We need to unlock the full potential of humanity to overcome the pandemic and start fast-paced economic recovery. Therefore, we need the best and brightest women to work shoulder-to-shoulder with the best and brightest men in every field from science and medicine to engineering and IT. But that won’t happen if Covid is used as an excuse to disempower women and take away their equal opportunities, preventing the best among women to rise.
Thus, the gains made in women’s empowerment need to be maintained and built upon further now more than ever. Just to illustrate how women can make a difference, reports from Ghana show that women who have legal rights and control over land are doing better at protecting their families from Covid. This is because with land ownership comes decision-making authority. And when women have that power they invest in the welfare of their families first.

This is not to pit women against men but to illustrate that when women are empowered, they multiply the forces of good in society. Covid is a huge challenge for humanity. We must double our chances of success against the pandemic by empowering women, ensuring their equal opportunities, and giving them the chance to flourish. By no means should we allow the selfish, short-term logic of patriarchy to take hold in the post-Covid era.