COVID-19 and Gender: a Crisis and the Structure

Abstract

The pandemic caused by the COVID-19 and the responses to it are disproportionately affecting women in many parts of the world. In Japan, since the outbreak of the COVID-19, gender-based violence against women has increased, women who held insecure part-time jobs have had their employment lost or their work hours cut, single-mother households have been facing further economic hardship, and the number of female suicide cases has increased. The pandemic also made us recognize the importance of “essential work” including the paid and unpaid care work traditionally provided by women. However, these are not caused by the COVID-19 only; it is said that the pandemic has only deepened the preexisting inequalities. In addition, at a time of crisis, the structural issues such as gender tend to be put aside because they are considered beyond the reach of immediate measures responding to the crisis. Nevertheless, there are cases articulated in past pandemics that such measures leaving out structural issues put women in vulnerable situations to the broader impacts of crises. In responding to the COVID-19, immediate medical, public health, economic, and social measures are indispensable; at the same time, conscious efforts to transform gendered social structure paying attention to the invisible factors such as care economy is also necessary. Transforming the gendered social structure and building a resilient society to minimize negative impacts in time of crisis should be counted as one of the conditions of peace in the era of pandemic.