From Insights to Action: Gender Equality in the Wake of COVID-19

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, shrinking working hours, increased care burdens and heightened violence have exacerbated the challenges that women and girls face. Unless action is taken, by 2021 around 435 million women and girls will be living in extreme poverty, including 47 million pushed into poverty as a result of COVID-19. This publication from UN Women presents the latest evidence on the multiple impacts of the pandemic on women and girls, including how the crisis is affecting extreme poverty, employment, health, unpaid care and violence against women and girls. Policy action is urgently needed to protect women’s health and well-being, including ensuring access to sexual and reproductive health services. The response to COVID-19 must also take into account the risks borne by essential health workers, the majority of whom are women. The report calls for gender-responsive policies, including the introduction of economic support packages for vulnerable women, as well as long-term investments in social protection systems that reach all women and girls. Additionally, improving gender data collection and expanding research on the gendered impacts of COVID-19 will be vital to understand the pandemic’s impact on different groups of women and girls.