Abstract
The gender effects of COVID-19 are complex, and extend much beyond the issues of care work and domestic violence that have captured global attention. Some effects have been immediate, such as job losses, food shortages, and enhanced domestic work burdens; others will emerge in time, such as the depletion of savings and assets and pandemic-related widowhood, which would make recovery difficult. I use examples from India to outline the complexity of such outcomes, the limitations of the many telephone surveys conducted during the pandemic, and the importance of anticipating both the immediate and the sequential effects. We can anticipate these effects by drawing on our knowledge of preexisting gender inequalities and people’s coping strategies under crises, as well as real-time media alerts. Prior conceptualization can help us design better surveys for capturing both the visible and less visible impact of the pandemic, as well as formulate more effective policies for mitigating the adverse effects. I also highlight the advantages of group-based approaches for protecting women’s livelihoods during such crises, and emphasize the need to create a synergy between feminist theory, evidence gathering, and policy formulation.
Highlights
The global focus on the gendered impact of COVID-19 has been largely on two issues: domestic violence and care work
It is notable that employment has been at the center of global media attention, we hear little about differential job loss by gender and even less about the intersections of gender, caste, and race
Both globally and in India, there is a substantial body of work on the excessive burden of care work borne by women, even before COVID-19 hit us
Summary
The gender effects of COVID-19 are complex, and extend much beyond the issues of care work and domestic violence that have captured global attention. I use examples from India to outline the complexity of such outcomes, the limitations of the many telephone surveys conducted during the pandemic, and the importance of anticipating both the immediate and the sequential effects. We can anticipate these effects by drawing on our knowledge of preexisting gender inequalities and people’s coping strategies under crises, as well as real-time media alerts. The global focus on the gendered impact of COVID-19 has been largely on two issues: domestic violence and care work. Using examples from India, I share reflections on the complexity of outcomes we might expect, the limitations of existing data and evidence, and the imperatives of tracking and monitoring shifts over time to capture both the immediate and the sequential effects
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