Women, workforce and epidemics
"Globally, women make up about 70 per cent of the health workforce and are primarily responsible for childcare, particularly in countries where schools have closed, the researchers say." in a report by #scidevnet
More than half of the doctors and more than 90% of the nurses on the frontlines of the COVID-19 battle in Hubei are women, according to the Shanghai Women’s Federation.
While being more in the front line in these situations, women are absent from the decision making positions. Each modern epidemic, from Polio, Ebola to Zika have generated incredibly deep effects on women and their livelihood. Policies to fight epidemics continue to lack a gender split analysis and recommendations.
Women from low- and middle-income countries make up just five per cent of leaders at global health organisations, while more than 70 per cent of CEOs and health board chairs worldwide are men, according to the new #GH5050 report Power, Priviledge and Priorities
Being a primary care giver and making up most of the health care workers globally the risk for infections are higher for women. As the coronavirus spread across China, 3,387 health-care workers were infected by Feb. 24, almost all in Hubei province, the center of the outbreak, according to Chinese health authorities. As of now, Italy has 2600+ healthcare workers infected according to the Gruppo Italiano per la Medicina Basata sulle Evidenze or GIMBE - Italy's Group for Evidence-based Medicine.
And without proper equipment, communication flows and efficient testing they are also becoming the super-spreaders, all this adding to the already strained systems.
In hospital - Personal hygiene and resilience
Health workers who are women in the midst of epidemics crisis face an additional reality that not many are talking about: personal hygiene.
China recently released a video praising their medical staff. It did back fire and rightfully. The women were showed as heroes as they were preparing to go to the Hubei region by shaving their heads for personal hygiene and convenience. For convenience and saving up on protective gear that needs to be thrown away as soon as you take it off, nurses in the long shifts wear adult diapers. The above being already difficult, nurses face shortage in access to period products, as they often get ignored or in short supply. At the recent oubreak of #covid19 in china volunteer groups organized donors and delivery campaigns.
Menstruation is still a tabu topic and without addressing this properly we're not only breaking down the spirit for millions of women, but putting their lives at even more risk.
At home - Physical and psychological safety
"Epidemics are just like a conflict situation. You have a loss of governance; you have chaos and instability; and all of that leaves women vulnerable to gender-based violence." Foregin Policy
Anita Bhatia, the Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Women tells TIME that “the very technique we are using to protect people from the virus can perversely impact victims of domestic violence. " Victims are on lockdown for many days with their abusers. Financial independence or seeking professional help and family support are obstructed during quarantine periods leaving people with very little options.
In previous outbreaks this has been observed and documented: violence and rape becoming a main threat to women and girls out from school and work, in confined spaces with increasing scarcity of supplies. While emergency groups have the one thing in focus: the virus, all resources are pushed in that direction and everything else becomes invisible or to be dealt with later. The impact is immense with a rise in teen pregnancies, disruption of education, suicide and mental health disorders.
At work - migrants and the shadow economy
An estimated 400,000 women work as domestic staff in Hong Kong, most of them coming from the Philippines and Indonesia as per BBC Asia.
Although difficult to fully account for, Spain estimates over 500000 people in undeclared labor and an estimate of the shadow economy at 23.1% of GDP in 2012. Based on registered household labor statistics we can extrapolate that over 60% are women, with all domestic care over at 90%.
My mom is one of them.
The quarantine hits immediately as salaries are paid daily or per gig, some salaries are split into cash, housing and food provided. These all disappear in a blink of an eye, leaving millions of people stranded and facing difficult choices. Adding to this, the stream of money that is regularly flowing back to the places of origin, now stops and the impact is felt across borders. Personal remittances from overseas Filipino workers reached a record high of $33.5bn (￡25.7bn) in 2019.
Our immediate surroundings
As someone working in recruitment and embedded in a community of HR professionals , we see the wave of dismissals, unemployment and hiring freezes straight up, but also dramatic, non reglemented switches to work from home, homeschooling or no schooling, prohibited and monitored movement of workers.
Soumya Swaminathan, chief scientist at the WHO, highlighted the in the COVID-19 outbreak to spotlight the often unrecognized role of women at the front line.
From small to large companies, thought decisions are to come and gender blind policies affect everyone. Health emergencies as Covid-19 are storms that will change the way we live and work.
As Mohammad Naciri, regional director of UN Women Asia and the Pacific puts it: "Women are playing an indispensable role in the fight against the outbreak - as health care workers, as scientists and researchers, as social mobilisers, as community peace builders and connectors, and as caregivers. It is essential to ensure that women's voices are heard and recognised."