The outbreak of disease affects males and females differently. However, the United Nations Population Fund (UNEP) considers the outbreak of pandemics as the creation of inequalities both sexually and gender with more girls and women likely to be affected. Social and health sector workers globally are represented by almost 70 percent of women, which increases the likeliness of women being affecting during pandemics (The United Nations Department of Global Communications, 2020). The high number of them in the health sector increases the chances that the environment might expose them to discrimination, sexual, and psychological differences compared to their male counterparts. Despite that, pandemics also increase the issues of sexual and reproductive health and rights that are considered to have a major impact on women. Women in such times become at high risk of intimate partner violence and other domestic violence as a result of increased tension in the household. This paper provides an analysis of how gender and sexuality conceptions are playing out during the COVID 19 pandemic.
The impacts of COVID-19 on sexuality and gender-based concepts have been regarded to affect women more than men. Despite the pandemic itself infecting and claiming the lives of more men than women, women and girls have been identified to be the victims of the pandemic in terms of economic, health-wise, unpaid care work, and gender-based violence (United Nation, 2020).
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Economic Impacts
The economic impact of COVID-19 across the globe has been profound with disruption already witnessed in the socioeconomic, supply chain, business, and job sector. The ongoing full and partial knockdown across the globe have already affected more than .7 billion workers an estimate of almost 81 of the workforce worldwide (United Nation, 2020). However, recent evidence indicates the difference between men's and women's economic and productive lives disruption based on the economic impacts of the pandemic. Globally, women are considered to the most affected since they earn less, and thus save less. They have unsecured jobs, and are more likely to have informal in informal sectors than men. With most of the women have limited opportunities to access social protection and representing the majority of a single-parent household, it is predicted that their capacity to absorb the Covid-19 economic shocks is less compared to men (United Nations, 2020). The layoffs that have already witnessed in most countries have been associated with service sectors such as retail and tourism, hospitality, which holds a high number of women workers. In developing nations, the state of affairs is even worse considering an approximate of 70% of women work in the informal sector that is characterized by limited access to social protection and less protection against paid sick leaves or dismissal.
The pandemic has also catalyzed the shift towards digital economies. The measures that have been put in place across the globe to slow down the spread of the virus, such as movement restrictions and social distancing, have provided e-commerce an opportunity to be exploited on online platforms, including online learning and teaching. However, the transition towards the digital economy tends to be gender exclusive due to the digital divide that has been considered a source of inequality. Globally, the average usage of digital technology indicates that fewer women often use digital technology compared to men, with research providing that 48% of women use the internet compared to 58% men (Maesan & Ruddy, 2020). The gap is even huge ion developing countries, with most women lagging behind in terms of digital skills and technological aptitude. Therefore, the impact of Covid-19 is more likely to prolong the women's ability to engage in economic aspects, increasing their inability to escape poverty and is expected to fall into most vulnerable situations.
Health Impact
Despite men appearing more vulnerable to the coronavirus, women, and girls highly engage in health services and treatment at a high rate compared to men. The uniqueness in terms of health needs that women and girls possess have been affected by the pandemic with most of them less likely to access reliable health care services, maternal and reproductive he healthcare, essential medicine, vaccines, or insurance coverage required for covering routine and catastrophic health costs (Harper, 2020). The COVID-19 has resulted in restrictive social norms and gender stereotyping that is contributing to access limit t health care services needed by women and girls. With most of the health care services controlled by men, the pandemic has increased the gender norms whereby most men are now devoted to fighting the spread of the virus resulting in few numbers that provide women health services, hence limiting women's accessibility to the services.
The other health associated impact of COVID-19 based on gender and sexuality is the high risk or exposure that women are facing due to the occupational sex-segregation. With 70% of health workers across the globe being women, they also consist of the majority of health facility service-staff, including cleaners, catering, laundry, which makes them more likely to construct the virus (United Nations, 2020). However, despite their high number of involvement in the fight against the virus, some areas have been identified to consider women as more resistant to the virus, thus limiting their access to personal protective equipment. Nonetheless, women are less likely to be involved in major national or global decision-making panels or committees on the COVID-19 response. Given the current context of the pandemic, most governments and health organizations have divided their funding away from provisions of women's sexual and reproductive health services such as maternal health care and gender-based violence services. The withdrawn of substantive support funds and diversion of attention is likely to result in increased rates of adolescent pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, and aggravated maternal mortality and morbidity.
Unpaid Care Work
The gross imbalance in the unpaid care work has been existing with most women engaging in the services more than men. However, with the existence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of unpaid care work end to be a problem to women and girls due to the increased demand in the care work that is deepening the gender inequality that was already existing (United Nation, 2020). With the high number of COVID-19 patients, health care facilities in most affected countries are forced to release patients early to provide space to an overwhelming number of new cases. The patients that suffer from non-COVID-19 illness are also released. The high number of patients out of the health facility has increased, which increases the need for unpaid care services that are mostly provided by women.
Gender-Based Violence
Violence against women has spiked during the Covid-19 pandemic globally due to economic and social stresses and various measures that have been implemented by governments in terms of restricting movement and contact. The measures to combat the spread of the various have resulted in crowded homes especially in developing countries, increased substance abuse, limited access to services, and reduction in peer support that have catalyzed the gender-based violence. The abusers have turned to use exposure to COVID-19 as a threat to limit the ability of most women facing abuse to call for support, with others being threatened to be thrown out, which increases their chances of conducting the virus. In most countries with reporting systems, the reports indicate an increase of 25% of domestic violence directed to women, with others indicating the women violence having been doubled in the course of the pandemic (United Nations, 2020). Therefore, gender and sexuality concepts are undergoing different transitions during the COVID-19 pandemic, and more changes are expected to be witnessed, considering the persistent nature of the virus.
References
Harper, C. (2020). COVID-19 – why gender matters . Overseas Development Institute. https://www.odi.org/blogs/16856-Covid-19-why-gender-matters
Maesan, G., & Ruddy, L. (2020). 'Digital gender divide' is getting wider . Bangkok Post. https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/1915812/digital-gender-divide-is-getting-wider
The United Nations Department of Global Communications (DGC). (2020). Gender equality in the time of COVID-19 . United Nation. https://www.un.org/en/un-coronavirus-communications-team/gender-equality-time-covid-19
United Nations. (2020). Policy Brief: The Impact of COVID-19 on Women . United Nations. https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/policy-brief-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-women-en.pdf
