The COVID-19 pandemic affects men and women differently, which is why it is so crucial to respond to the crisis using gender data to inform evidence-based solutions, says a report on Tuesday. Since the outbreak, a larger share of women (53 percent, compared to 31 percent of men) in formal employment has seen their paid work hours reduced. Within a week of the pandemic being declared, UN Women engaged with national governments and mobile network operators to roll out a series of rapid assessment surveys in 11 Asia-Pacific countries. The countries are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Nepal, Maldives, Pakistan, Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Thailand. The report, titled “Unlocking the Lockdown: The Gendered Effects of COVID-19 on Achieving the SDGs in Asia and the Pacific,” revealed how COVID-19 may be reversing the hard-won gains Asia-Pacific has made in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The lockdowns have made unpaid domestic work an essential service, but women have shouldered most of the burden: 63 percent of women saw increases in their time spent doing this work, compared to 55 percent of men, according to the report released from Bangkok. COVID-19 is hitting women’s income from savings, investments and properties the hardest, with 66 percent of women seeing decreases compared to 54 percent of men. The report also clearly demonstrates how COVID-19 is triggering a mental health crisis in the region, as the emotional impact of the pandemic unduly falls on women’s shoulders in most countries.
Increases in unpaid work, job and income loss, and the effects of the lockdown on gender-based violence are among the factors that may be contributing to higher rates of stress and anxiety among women.
Younger women (10-24 years old) in particular have seen their mental health disproportionately affected.
While social distancing has made traditional, face-to-face data collection nearly impossible, UN Women’s Regional Office for Asia and Pacific turned to innovative solutions for data collection by using public-private partnerships, working with governments and mobile network operators to execute rapid assessment surveys in 11 countries in the region.
“As the Covid-19 crisis unfolded, we saw time and again news stories about contagion and death rates,” says Mohammad Naciri, UN Women Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific.
