{"id":1659,"date":"2020-05-11T05:19:10","date_gmt":"2020-05-11T05:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakvoter.org\/wie\/?p=1659"},"modified":"2020-09-22T03:40:25","modified_gmt":"2020-09-22T03:40:25","slug":"impact-of-covid-19-on-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakvoter.org\/wie\/wie-blogs\/impact-of-covid-19-on-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Impact of COVID-19 on Women"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

March 2020 marked with the start of a global pandemic outbreak in Pakistan. In less than a month, COVID-19 led to the major economic recession, with potentially strong impacts on the livelihoods of vulnerable groups. In Pakistan, this pandemic further heightened the pre-existing gender inequalities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost half of the population of Pakistan is affected badly on the economic front, facing acute domestic violence and is deprived of basic health facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Violence against women and girls (VAWG), is a global pandemic that affects 1 in 3 women in their lifetime, and Pakistan is no exception to it. Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2017-18 shows that 28% of women aged between15-49 have experienced physical violence since the age of 15, and 6% have experienced sexual violence. 7% of the women who have ever been pregnant have experienced violence during their pregnancy and 34% of ever-married women have experienced spousal physical, sexual, or emotional violence. The most common type of spousal violence is emotional violence (26%) which is followed by physical violence (23%). 5% of married women have experienced spousal sexual violence. Trends suggest that the heightened rate of unemployment in this COVID<\/a> time is increasing the depression and aggression which may likely increase the risk of domestic abuse and other forms of gender-based violence. Women with disabilities and transgender are more likely to be impacted by domestic violence than their peers.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women are on the frontline of the coronavirus pandemic. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD<\/a>), 70 percent of health workers are women. Women make up the majority of careers in education and health field. Moreover, approximately 20% of the women in Pakistan are currently involved in income-generating activities. Most of them are part of the informal low wage market. During public health emergencies, it is these low-wage markets that are most adversely affected. The economic downturn has disproportionately affected women more than men. In a recent survey conducted by FAFEN<\/a>, one of the organizations working on the subject of democracy and election reveals that 26 % of the women were terminated from their jobs after the announcement of the lockdown by the government.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being female myself, I wanted a strong input from my women representatives in national politics to take stance on addressing these issues. Our government should take immediate steps to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n