The impacts of a crisis are never gender-neutral and COVID 19 is no exception. Women are burdened with additional works both in the area of paid and unpaid works and it is often without alleviating other life responsibilities with the ongoing tasks of organizations of their homes and families under the conditions of a pandemic (Cook et al, 2017). A big shock to societies and economies, the COVID 19 underlines the society’s intense reliance on women on the frontline and in the home, and it exposed the structural inequalities in every sphere of human life between men and women, in the health sector, economy, social security to economic security (Fordham & Bradshaw, 2013). In the times of a pandemic, when resources are burdened and limited institutional capacity is seen, a high disproportionate division of resources and facilities could be seen between both the genders and that the women are burden with additional responsibilities which amplify the situations for them in the broad framework in the contexts of conflicts and emergencies. The interviews conducted during the COVID 19 pandemics in Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Australia focused on the intersections of the pandemic and the burden on the different gender and it was found that the burden on women in all the countries was increasing and it is estimated to be increased until the pandemic comes under control (Sadasivam, 2020). It is to be noted that the public policy in all the countries will be critical to understand the order of the broader impact of the pandemic and the societal recovery period.
According to Mclaren et al (2020), the Sri Lankan vignette has been described as women who have been in the job of health care workers who have lost their support in the reproductive work (the unpaid work) which involves house chores and caring for the children and adults. This is due to schools, daycare facilities, and offices being closed and friends, neighbors, and relatives are refusing to assist due to the fear of transmission of the disease. Also, women in the health-related productive works have been increasingly facing discrimination such as refused access public health services, local food access, and transporting and eviction from the rented houses, thus increasing the burden of their work with deteriorating social conditioning.
The Malaysian vignette has been described in the journal as in the month of March, the Malaysian government introduced a new law during the times of COVID 19 that only the head of the family can go out of the home form isolation for the purpose of completing daily tasks and purchase things of necessities (Mclaren et al, 2020). As men are generally the head of the Malaysian system of patriarchy, women have been facing exposed deteriorating social responses when they go outside the home as they have the fear of police action when reaching markets, pharmacies, and other services.
The journal described the Vietnamese vignette as the chasm in the gender bias of reproductive roles is deep-rooted in the cultural practices based upon the Confucian system. The media in Vietnam focused on the changes in family dynamics during the quarantine mode as with men staying at home for longer periods (Mclaren et al, 2020), it changed the burden of women doing the daily reproductive work of home with more time in doing household chores, women were seen as happy as they could now service their men for a longer time as it is inculcated in the women of Vietnam to serve their husbands as a dream life.
The journal described the Australian scenario in times of COVID as the child-caring services and schools remained open during the times of quarantine and covid19 suppression primarily to inculcate a trust within the health workers that their children are in a safer and cared state. The occupational separation meant that most of the employees in the health and social welfare sectors who rely on the support of the state for the care of their children are generally women (Mclaren et al, 2020). As with gender equality, women in Australia are generally seen for negotiating the productive, reproductive, and community works. Australia has been found to be falling behind in addressing gender inequality in the reproductive works (Beutler & Fenech, 2018).
In addition to that, women paid labor and women-run businesses are going to hit the hardest in this pandemic as women have lost their jobs in large numbers, the measures to prevent its spread and counter its effects are driving a huge number of women into unemployment. The interesting factions that the industries which have been hit worst by the pandemic are overrepresented by women, women were more in number in industries such as food services, entertainment, and retail as 40 % of all the employed women as compared to 37 % of men (Abdullah, 2020). For the domestic workers, most of them (80 %) of whom are women, the situation has been very staggering,]. About 72 % of the domestic workers have lost their jobs, which were already vulnerable as other informal jobholders with no formal security, insurance on work, notice or paid leave. As the quarantine system kept people at home, closed the schools and boarding facilities, the burden of home chores has exploded (WHO, 2020). Even before the pandemic, women spent around 4 hours per day in the home unpaid work worldwide. Both men and women have reported job losses and an increase in unpaid work, but an increasing proportion is that of women.
The journal describes three types of additional burdened work in the life of women in the world in general and in the four surveyed countries in particular, being frontline work which is a paid labor in which goods and services are produced, unpaid care work involves child care, cooking, home chores and caring for the family and chores and community activates which include improvements in the community resources and which is most often voluntary (Mclaren et al, 2020). ready to put the burden during a difficult time and the impact of such inequality during these The journal argues that during the pre-disaster world, the inequality and women business has been worth considering, and this pandemic has increased this bias manifold with the results and consequences lasting for a long period of time. In the gender analysis framework, it is well established that women’s problems especially equality issues are further exacerbated in times of disaster, famines, or pandemics, and the reason told being the already existing responsibilities which the women bear during the pre-disaster makes her role vulnerable during the times of problem and these additional responsibilities are difficult times is estimated to be lass longer even after the fallout period of such disaster (DET, 2017). The journal argues that women's role and her duties in all the spheres' work is generally considered less valuable, less visible than that of the men’s. In all societies, it is the men already who have more opportunities in areas of leadership, administration, and professional specialization which is reflected in the structural framework and different fields of basic infrastructure, and to some extent, this infrastructure is made to favor men in these spheres.
Bradshaw (2014) explains that during these times of pandemic, the disproportionate divisions which could be seen are also impacted by the burden of the hard-fought gains for women which also come under threat. Response to a pandemic is not only justifying the long fight for equality but also convincing the world to build a resilient system in which the women are kept in the center of recovery. These impacts on the women can be seen in the form of conflicts they face, the violence against them, the health and healthcare workers who face such situations, the economic shocks in various forms, the unpaid work burden which increases on them, the effect on young women and girls be it in the form of wife, daughter, migrant women or simply a wage earner. The gender gap is attributed as the future of poverty, thus these pandemics affect the human race in their effort to push humans into poverty through different avenues according to their intensity on every avenue, increased gender bias and burden on women is one of them. For the last 22 years, the gender gap has been decreasing through a number of efforts by the countries, independent organizations, and international organizations on their levels (UN Women, 2020). Weakened social protection institutions during these times have left many poor unprotected, many women equalized (UN Women, 2020). The pandemic will push 96 million people into poverty by 2021 and 47 million of them will be women and young girls (WHO, 2020). It will bring the total number of women and girls living under extreme poverty or below 1.9 USD per day, to 435 million (WHO, 2020). The pandemic as any other pandemics or disaster will widen the gaps between men and women bias means more women will be pushed under poverty than men and it will especially the case in the age group of 25 to 34, who have the potential to be most productive for their families. By 2021, there are expected to be 118 women pushed Into poverty per 100 men and in the case of extreme poverty, this number could go 121 per 100 men by 2030 (BBC, 2020). Thus this process of re-emerging of the extreme poverty estimates in which women are again going to be a victim in spite of the fights for women empowerment in all these years has depicted the poor framework of women equality which the world has endorsed in all these years of development.
The journal very well explained that in the times of COVID 19 self-isolation, quarantine and lockdown, women at home have been burdened with multifold work exposure in the three fields of productive, reproductive and community services and has presented the picture of 4 countries as cultures in these countries have yet to recognize the women rights a lot. Women have been increasingly burdening with frontline health and social care with increasing social bias in the three fields and which has been affecting worst them than men. The study asserts the observation and measurement of the effects of coved 19 or any other disasters, the effects of its fallout effects men and women to what extent and to what difference which is crucial to understand the social bias and the time of recovery it will need to reach the pre coved levels of the equity that the world had achieved. This study will be very helpful for the world to generate new policies regarding gender bias and women empowerment after the world would come out of the fallout of coved 19 pandemic's economic and social effects.
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BBC (2020). How covid-19 is changing women’s lives. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200630-how-covid-19-is-changing-womens-lives
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