UNDP and UN Women’s newly launched COVID-19 Global Gender Response Tracker shows the social protection and jobs response to the pandemic has largely overlooked women’s needs.

 

New York, September 28 – Most of the world’s nations are not doing enough to protect women and girls from the economic and social fallout being caused by the COVID-19 crisis, according to new data released today by UNDP and UN Women from the COVID-19 Global Gender Response Tracker1. 

The tracker, which includes over 2,500 measures across 206 countries and territories, specifically analyses government measures with a gender lens in three areas: those that tackle violence against women and girls (VAWG), support unpaid care, and strengthen women’s economic security.

The results signal that 42 countries, one fifth (20%) of those analysed, have no gender-sensitive measures in response to COVID-19 at all. Only 25 countries, 12% of the world, have introduced measures that cover all three areas. These may include the provision of helplines, shelters, or judicial responses to counter the surge in violence against women and girls during the pandemic, cash transfers directly targeted at women, the provision of childcare services or paid family and sick leave.

“The COVID-19 crisis provides an opportunity for countries to transform existing economic models towards a renewed social contract that prioritizes social justice and gender equality. This new gender response tracker can help accelerate policy reform by guiding on gaps in national efforts and funding and highlighting best practices,” said UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner.

The new data show that governments have primarily focused their gender-related COVID-19 efforts on preventing and/or responding to violence against women and girls (VAWG) – these measures account for 71% percent of all actions identified, or 704 measures across 135 countries.

Out of this, 63% focus on strengthening essential services, such as shelters, helplines, and other reporting mechanisms. However, only 48 countries, less than a quarter of those analysed, treated VAWG-related services as an integral part of their national and local COVID-19 response plans, with very few adequately funding these measures.

“It’s clear that the COVID-19 pandemic is hitting women hard – as victims of domestic violence locked down with their abusers, as unpaid caregivers in families and communities, and as workers in jobs that lack social protection. The Global Tracker supports governments in making the right policy decisions by sharing good practices and monitoring progress in care policies and measures to address violence against women”, said UN Women Executive Director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.

Latin America and the Caribbean is the region with one of the highest numbers of gender-sensitive measures (261), second only to Europe, Northern America, Australia, and New Zealand. Most countries taking at least one gender-sensitive measure are in Latin America (20 countries), compared to 13 in the Caribbean, but the response has been patchy in some areas, particularly in unpaid care. Despite this, examples of innovative, gender-responsive measures continue to be implemented in a range of contexts.

At the global level, the social protection, care crisis and jobs response has been largely blind to women’s needs, with only 177 measures (10% of the total) across 85 countries explicitly aimed at strengthening women’s economic security, and less than one-third of countries (60 in total) taking action to support unpaid care and strengthen care services for children, older persons or persons with disabilities.

Some positive examples from Latin America and the Caribbean:

  • In Colombia financial resources have or will be made available to support gender-based violence survivors.
  • In Barbados, the social services helpline has been expanded to offer services for survivors of intimate partner violence and virtual courts have been introduced for urgent cases, which include cases of violence against women and girls.
  • In Argentina, where the National Ministry of Women, Genders and Diversity has authorized women and LGBTIQ+ people to circulate freely to report violence (resolution 15/2020).
  • Costa Rica have ensured that childcare services remain open during lockdown.
  • In Panama, the Health Minister, prosecutor’s office, police, and judiciary are all part of an intersectoral group created by the Minister of Social Development to respond to violence against women during the COVID-19 emergency.
  • In Chile has extended the leave period for parents who were on parental leave at the time of the outbreak of the pandemic for an initial 30 days, which can be extended up to 90 days total as long as the state of emergency continues.

Recommendations based on the tracker findings 

The findings suggest that even where countries have adopted an impressive number of gender-sensitive measures, these will only be effective if they are adequately financed and sustained over time. Further recommendations include:

  • Services to respond to and prevent VAWG must be treated as essential services, should be adequately funded and an integral part of national and local COVID-19 response plans;
  • Fiscal packages must be devised to ensure that women are not left out of the pandemic response and recovery; and
  • Governments must support women’s active participation in leadership and decision-making processes in their COVID-19 response and invest in sex-disaggregated data to ensure that the gender-differentiated impacts of the pandemic are recognized and effectively addressed.

For more information

UNDP: Sangita Khadka, Communications Specialist, UNDP Bureau for Policy and Programme Support

Phone: +1 2129065043 | Email: [email protected] | Email:  [email protected]

UN Women: Maria Sanchez, UN Women Media Specialist

Phone: +16467814507 | Email: [email protected]  | Email: [email protected]

Note to the editors: 

-The COVID-19 Global Gender Response Tracker is based on publicly available information, including official documents; surveys of UNDP and UN Women experts worldwide; and draws on other COVID-19 policy trackers. To access the tracker before it goes live, please use this username and password: undpcovid.  

-The Global COVID-19 Gender Response Tracker will be launched in the United Nations General Assembly side event by UNDP and UN Women, “From Recovery to Transformation: Launch of the COVID-19 Global Gender Response Tracker,” on Monday, 28 September, 12:00-1:30 PM (NYC time). Click here for more information.

 

-A global and six regional factsheets with detailed information on the tracker findings will be available on this webpage on Monday at 12 noon E.T. 

 

 

 

[1]Username and password are both: undpcovid