By Cecilia Zhuang, UN Rep, AWC Philippines
On October 23, a webinar was hosted by the NGO Women's Rights & Gender Equality Caucus, Australia and Asia-Pacific Women's Watch (APWW). Four female leaders shared their observations of how COVID-19 has impacted women's livelihoods in the Asia Pacific region.
Yukiko Oda from Japan Women's Watch covered the East Asia region. Despite the differences in how China, South Korea and Japan responded to the pandemic, there are three common struggles:
1. Increasing cases of domestic violence,
2. Lacking gender-equal approach in the decision-making process,
3. Frontline workers (women are the majority of frontline workers) bear greater burden of unpaid care work at home.
In addition, women had a more challenging time to receive government support since most households are registered under male spouses. NGOs in China and Japan tried to share information and distribute cash to ensure that marginalized women could receive the help they needed.
Nalini Singh from Fiji Women's Rights Movement (FWRM) explained it is not easy to summarize the region since countries are very diverse by indigenous cultures, religions, beliefs, languages, political systems, and colonized history. In the Pacific region, most countries reacted to the pandemic with a high alert since there was a significant measles outbreak in 2019.
The pandemic mostly impacted economies and health care systems. Various countries rely heavily on tourism; women, especially women who participate in the informal economy, faced dramatic income reductions. Medicine and medical equipment faced dramatic shortages since the travel restrictions took place. Ms. Singh believed the aftermath is even harder to calculate. Young women will soon face a dilemma of going to school vs. entering the job force early to support the family.
Aurora de Dios from the Women and Gender Institute (WAGI) summarized that the pandemic contributed to even stricter measures by authoritarian governments in Southeast Asia. In her home country, the Philippines, the pandemic is a health issue and a political and economic issue. The lack of job opportunities forced thousands of migrant workers to move back from the Middle East and ASEAN. There was a limited response mechanism to protect this group of people. Disadvantaged families could not participate in the online learning since they could not afford the high cost of the internet. Some family members struggled to help their children with homework due to digital illiteracy.
Farida Shaheed, the Executive Director of Shirkat Gah Women's Resource Center, shared that South Asian governments remained in partial or full lockdown. The World Bank predicted a negative growth rate throughout the region of 132 million people. The Pakistani government launched a COVID-19 emergency fund, but ultimately there was no information released to the public. In the informal and unregistered working sectors, there are no protections and no security measures provided to its workers. In her region, women have no identity cards or are not registered as the heads of households. Daily wage earners, both women and men, slipped quietly into extreme poverty. Women migrant workers were not given priority in repatriation; women were not given priority to be rehired when the economy slowly picks up again.
Husbands and in-laws mistreated Pakistani women who lost jobs. Contraceptive supplies ran low, and the birth rate is expected to be high in coming years. Child abuse increased, and early marriage is a concern. Many women lack access to digital connectivity. Shelters are facing challenges of lack of social distancing. Shortages of transportation are also problematic for shelter residents and social workers. Police have a slower response to abuse since they are preoccupied with COVID-19-related cases.
Twenty-five years have passed since the Beijing Platform for Action was adopted, yet the economic burdens add insult to the women's pandemic injury. The marginalized are becoming further marginalized in the Asia Pacific region.
To learn more, watch the video of the event.