COVID 19: a feminist response to a global pandemic

June 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic exposes long-standing structural inequalities. While women and women’s rights organisations (WROs) have continued to be frontline responders during this pandemic, they have also been disproportionately impacted by its effects – within the household, in the public sphere and on the frontlines.

This briefing seeks to highlight the gendered nature of the global pandemic and the central role of women and WROs in the response. It addresses the role of women and WROs as frontline responders, violence against women and girls, sexual and reproductive health and rights, security measures, economic livelihoods, unpaid and underpaid care, and the differentiated impacts on older women and women with disabilities. The paper also touches on the macroeconomic environment in which the COVID-19 pandemic is unfolding. Finally, recommendations are made both on immediate steps and on the longer-term changes needed to transform society.