The current coronavirus pandemic has caused havoc worldwide creating not only a global health crisis but straining health infrastructures and national budgets, while exacerbating an existing debt crisis and downturn of a global economy and financial markets. Recent global outlooks by global institutions are showing the global economic recession and financial turmoil from COVID-19 are derailing advances in financing for development, collapsing trade and investment, and spurring flight of capital out of emerging markets. The result is multiple layered crises with coronavirus impacts weakening already fragile systems, basic services and social protection measures.
What is becoming clear is the gendered nature of this crisis. As COVID-19 plateaus in some countries, research is surfacing to show that women are bearing a disproportionate brunt of the healthcare costs through sustaining the care-economy and as high percentage sellers in the informal sector and as a majority of small-scale farmers in the agriculture economies of many countries. Recent articles by women activists, feminist economists and experts are painting a fuller picture of the COVID-19 impacts on women and girls, one in which the landscape shows the burden disproportionately on their shoulders.
Event description:
The COVID-19 Impacts on Women webinar will act as a kick-off to the webinar series, Macro Solutions for Women, the People and the Planet” to discuss, explore and dissect current scenarios and expound on solutions in response to the pandemic in the framework of the current global financial situation. As a starting point, the panelists will discuss the assessment presented by the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Financing for Development, regarding the global financial implications of the COVID 19 Pandemic. Panelists will present analysis on a gendered perspective of the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and expand on the shifting landscape and potential pitfalls in addressing multiple crises.
Contacts:
Rosa Lizarde, Global Director, Feminist Task Force, Global Director; and Co-Convenor, Women’s Working Group on FfD. rosa.lizarde@feministtaskforce.org
Emilia Reyes, Program Director, Policies and Budgets for Equality and Sustainable Development, at Gender Equity: Citizenship, Work and Family; and Co-Convenor, Women’s Working Group on FfD. emilia@equidad.org.mx
The WWG on FfD is an alliance of women’s organizations and networks who advocate for the advancement of women’s human rights and gender equality in the Financing for Development related UN processes. If you want to join us, send us an email to: rosa.lizarde@feministtaskforce.org, telling us about your work, the topics you address, and why you would like to join the WWG on FFD.
