New book examines how COVID-19 crisis entrenched inequality for women around the world
by Sharon Mah
A newly released compendium, , is revealing how women across the world were simultaneously critical for the success of the global COVID-19 response, and disproportionately impacted by the pandemic鈥檚 secondary effects, such as lost income, and increased unpaid care work and violence.
Book co-editors, Dr. Julia Smith of 911吃瓜 and Dr. Clare Wenham from the London School of Economics, gathered together a unique multidisciplinary and transnational team of authors and experts who examined nine case studies of the COVID-19 response and its global and local impacts on women from Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Hong Kong, Kenya, Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
鈥淭o facilitate pandemic preparedness, we now must learn from the past,鈥� says Smith. 鈥淭hese case studies include a multitude of lessons on how to insure those at the center of pandemic response 鈥� i.e., women 鈥� are also protected from its worst effects.鈥�
Feminism and COVID-19 has received much praise. Dr. Jennifer Piscopo, a professor at the University of London, commented that 鈥淸t]his remarkable volume about COVID-19 policies in diverse countries and territories shows that, rather that creating ruptures leading to transformational change, health emergencies actually reinscribe patriarchy and intersectional inequalities.鈥�
is published by The MIT Press.
Chapters and authors featured in Feminism and COVID-19: How Women Fare in the Face of a Global Crisis
Unbalanced Scales: Exploring the Impacts of the Unequal Burden of Responsibilities Borne by Women during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Dhaka, Bangladesh
Selima Sara Kabir, Moumita Islam, Amal Chowdhury, Nazia Mahmud, and Sabina Faiz Rashid
鈥淚t Is the Woman Who Has to Do Everything, Paid or Unpaid鈥�: Work, Gender, and COVID-19 in Brazil
Mariela Rocha, Aponira Maria de Farias, Brunah Schall, Eduardo Ryo Tamaki, Paloma Porto, Paulo Silva J煤nior, Flora Gon莽alves, and Denise Nacif Pimenta
鈥淎 Double-Edged Sword鈥�: Lived Experiences of Recent Immigrant Women in British Columbia, Canada, during COVID-19
Alice M农rage and Julia Smith
鈥淏ecause I Am a Woman, the Man Think They Need to Protect Me鈥�: Gendered Experience of First Responders to COVID-19 in China
Connie C. R. Gan and Sara E. Davies
鈥淲e Want to Improve the Situation, but It鈥檚 Not under Our Control鈥�: Gendered Risks, Impacts, and Response in Hong Kong
Ingrid D. Lui and Karen A. Gr茅pin
鈥淪ince They Call Us Volunteers, There Is No Support at All鈥�: Community Health Volunteers during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Kenya
Anne Ngunjiri, Robinson Karuga, Linet Okoth, and Lillian Otiso
鈥淲e the Women Do a Lot of Support鈥�: Experiences of Women Market Traders, Women Living in Slums, and Women with Disabilities in Lagos, Nigeria, during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Amy Oyekunle, Uche Ralph-Opara, Patience Agada, and Oluwakemi Odukoya
鈥淚 Feel Like I鈥檝e Been Left at 鈥楪ood Luck. Hopefully, Nothing Goes Wrong鈥欌��: The Experiences of Pregnant Women during COVID-19 in the UK
Asha Herten Crabb, Karen Gr茅pin, and Clare Wenham
Women鈥檚 Economic and Social Vulnerability to the Pandemic: Lessons from Bangladesh, Kenya, and Nigeria
Valerie Mueller, Nicole Wu, Atonu Rabbani, and Karen Gr茅pin
Gender-Responsive Pandemic Planning
Heang-Lee Tan, Kate Hawkins, Erica Rosser, Julia Smith, Clare Wenham, and Rosemary Morgan