COVID-19 Response - Emerging Issues and Possible Solutions Affecting Gender in the Global COVID-19 Response

From CORE Group, this recording and accompanying presentations capture the contents of a phone call in which a panel of presenters from a variety of organisations helped identify emerging challenges related to COVID-19 and gender, as well as possible solutions to address these challenges, including how men can support the many shifts ahead.

One of a series of weekly calls (see Related Summaries, below), Coordination Call #7 was moderated by Dr. Carolina Mejia, Senior Measurement and Learning Technical Advisor at IntraHealth International, with a welcome by Lisa Hilmi, Executive Director, CORE Group, and an introduction by Julie Dargis, Senior Advisor, Global COVID-19 Response, CORE Group.

The presentations are as follows:

Segment #1: Review of Top-Line Issues

1. Presentation: Gender and Pandemics
By: Dr. Sameera M. Al Tuwaijri, Global Lead, Population and Development - Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practices, the World Bank
Summary: This presentation focuses on the World Bank perspective on gender and COVID-19. It looks at the interconnectedness between gender, health, and other sectors (e.g., education, social protection, employment) and how these dynamics affect how women and girls are impacted by an epidemic like COVID-19. In particular, the following key issues related to epidemics and gender are highlighted:

• The potential for biological differences in incidence and treatment
• The impact on the elderly, especially women
• Support to healthcare workers and informal caregivers
• Continuity of critical reproductive and maternal health care
• Mitigating risk for gender-based violence and sexual harassment

In terms of recommendations, the presentation looks at key policy interventions, with an eye on gender, related to 3 broad policy categories. The need for gender-sensitive measurement is also emphasised; for example, when planning surveys and data collection, reviewers need to ensure that gender is incorporated into the measurement instrument.

2. Presentation: Global & MENA Regional Rapid Gender Analysis COVID-19
By: Anushka Kalyanpur, Team Lead, Sexual and Reproductive Health & Rights in Emergencies Cluster, CARE, and Courtney Phelps, Senior Gender in Livelihoods Advisor, Syria at CARE
Summary: This presentation outlines key findings from a rapid gender analysis (RGA) undertaken by CARE, globally and in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Globally, the findings include that: (i) Gender-based violence is increasing; (ii) there is decreasing access to healthcare; and (iii) sexual and reproductive health is at risk. The RGA from the MENA region, where conflict and mobility are prevalent, highlights the additional challenges related to high-risk environments such as camps for refugees and displaced persons and informal settlements. Key findings of the RGA highlight challenges related to water availability, the need for psychosocial support, and lack of representation of women in leadership roles. The presentation concludes with a list of recommendations for both the MENA region and globally. To mention just 2 that cut across both lists, CARE highlights the need to establish/strengthen inclusive, 2-way community-based risk communication, as well as the need to consistently collect and analyse sex, age, and disability disaggregated (SADD) data in all preparedness and response interventions.

Segment #2: Considerations for Effective Gender Response

3. Presentation: Gender Implications of COVID-19 for Frontline Health Workforces
By: Constance Newman, Global Technical Lead for Gender Equality and Health, IntraHealth International
Summary: This presentation discusses how COVID-19 is affecting healthcare workers, 90% of whom are women, and how to preserve an effective frontline health workforce going forward. It looks at how women are generally disadvantaged, even before COVID-19, and how the situation is exacerbated in an emergency. The presentation highlights how gender inequality impacts on the pipeline of the future health workforce. During normal times, for example, disadvantages in schooling, salaries, and work/family conflict have a negative impact on women coming into the profession, while COVID-19 causes additional challenges such as the disruption of education. Further gender implications of COVID-19 include the exacerbation of gender inequalities in the current workforce and the undermining of health and safety of the frontline health workforce. The presentation draws on the clauses within Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 on gender equality when making recommendations to ensure gender equality at the frontlines during and post COVID-19.

4. Presentation: The Impact on COVID-19 on Men and Their Livelihoods and Their Families
By: Giovanna Lauro, Vice President of Programs and Research, Promundo-US
Summary: This presentation looks at the impact of COVID-19 on men. In particular, it looks at the fact that evidence seems to show that more men than women are dying from COVID-19. It makes the point that this is a general trend in men's health that is being exacerbated during the pandemic. This trend is related to societal pressures and harmful masculinity norms that cause behaviours that put men at higher risk. These include: not seeking help, avoiding preventative measures, and coping with stress in unhealthy ways. To address this, the presentation cites the need for: (i) intersectional data to inform COVID-19 response - by income, ethnicity, immigration status, etc., and (ii) evidence-based policies to address social determinants and social inequalities that will, for example, promote a culture of care for men (of themselves and within their families), along with gender equality.

5. Presentation: The 5 Asks
By: Ann Keeling, Senior Fellow, Women in Global Health
Summary: This presentation discusses the 5 calls to action put forward by Women in Global Health to strengthen the global response to COVID-19 and prepare health systems for future pandemics. These are:

• Include women in global health security decision-making structures and public discourse.
• Provide health workers, most of whom are women, with safe and decent working conditions.
• Recognise and value women's work in health and social care by bringing their unpaid work into the formal labour market and redistributing unpaid family care equally between men and women.
• Adopt a gender-sensitive approach to health security data collection/analysis and response management.
• Fund women's movements - especially women's organisations in low- and middle-income countries - to unleash capacity to address critical gender issues.

6. COVID Resource Corner: Highlights of Gender-specific COVID Resources are shared by Julie Dargis, Senior Advisor, Global COVID-19 Response. These are also available for download from the presentation and the CORE website.

On February 6 2020, CORE Group began a series of weekly calls (see Related Summaries, below) to convene members and partners to discuss their institutional positions around a range of topics related to COVID-19 in an effort to coordinate and support the global pandemic response. During each call, people who signed up for the discussion have the opportunity to ask questions and give input, and these discussions are also included in the recording. To receive updates and coordination call announcements, subscribe to CORE Group's One Health Interest Group listserv or email the listserv using: onehealth@lists.coregroup.org.