This is week six of our weekly newsletter covering the latest on gender, the economy and Covid-19. With the Prime Minister's statement on easing the lockdown, we have transitioned into a new stage of the Covid-19 crisis, with a host of new challenges facing women. Before we get started however...
Next week the Women's Budget Group's is hosting a digital seminar to discuss the beginnings of a Feminist Green New Deal. Covid-19 has exposed serious inequalities in our economy with women bearing the brunt of exposure and economic downturn. Rebuilding from the health and economic crises will require dramatic socio-economic transformation which prioritises people and planet. Join our very own Sara Reis and Chair of the Women’s Environmental Network, Halima Begum, interview authors of an exciting new policy paper to discuss: ‘What would a Feminist Green New Deal look like?’ May 20th 2020 | 12:30-14:00 BST |Register Here
Continue reading for the latest news on the economic and gendered impacts of the pandemic in the UK and beyond. Scroll until the very end to catch upcoming events on gender, the economy, and Covid-19.
Please do follow up on Twitter and Facebook to stay updated.
The Women's Budget Group on Covid-19
Response to the Government’s Covid-19 Recovery ‘Roadmap’
This week the UK Government published documents detailing a ‘roadmap’ out of lockdown including:
The Government’s Covid-19 Recovery Strategy
Health and safety guidance for employers
Guidance on staged returns education and childcare settings
The Women's Budget Group has published their response to the Prime Minister's statement on easing the lockdown and the potential problems for women. Read more here.
What is happening on the front line: Covid-19 and Migrant women
Last week we launched our report 'Migrant Women and the Economy' whichlooks at the distinct impact the immigration system is having on migrant women, which is further exacerbated by Covid- 19.
If you missed it you can watch the recording of the discussion, as well as some links to provide you with further reading on the amazing work being done in the women’s sector to campaign and protect the rights of Migrant women here.
The London School of Economics' Centre for Economic Progress published new research which finds that women are more likely to lose their jobs than men in the Covid-19 economic crisis – and they are more likely to be taking on extra housework and childcare whether working or not Read the report here.
The Institute for Public Policy Research published a report 'Who Wins and Who Pays? Rentier Power and the Covid Crisis.' The report warns that the economic risks and costs of the shutdown should be shared fairly across society. Read the report here.
Analysis from the New Economics Foundation (NEF) has found that government support schemes designed to help those impacted by the economic shutdown are not available to everyone who needs them. Women, young people, non-white workers, and renters are at particularly high risk of missing out on support. Read more here
Care work under Covid: A new study published by Autonomy unpacks the gender, ethnicity and working conditions of care workers. Women make up 66% of this workforce. 35%of care workers are on zero-hour contracts, and average care worker pay is well below the recognised poverty line. Read more here.
Sisters of Frida, an experimental collective of disabled women, published their paper 'The Impact of COVID19 on Disabled Women.' There are more disabled women than men in the UK (23% compared to 20%.)The paper compiles the experiences of disabled women and the impact of Covid-19 on their intersecting identities. Read the paper here.
Imkaan, published a position paper titled 'The Impact of the Two Pandemics: VAWG and COVID-19 on Black and Minoritised Women and Girls'. Imkaan's position paper outlines how for women and girls with protected characteristics, the two pandemics increase risks at multiple interlocking levels. Read the paper here
Did social care save the NHS? Sue Himmelweit argues in a Progressive Economic Forum blog that the social care sector in the UK has been so badly hit by Covid-19 because it was in crisis already. In many European countries almost half of all Covid related deaths have been in care homes, but the figures are worse in the UK, where 400,000 residents are now looked after in 15,517 care homes run by more than 5,000 different providers, at least 80% of which are private for-profit companies. Read more here
Going 'back to normal' is nothing to look forward to for BAME nurses Saharla Musa, an NHS nurse working Central London, shares her experience of working life before Covid-19 and why the journey back to 'normal' is not a tolerable option for her. 70% of the nurses who have died from Covid-19 have been from a BAME background.
As part of the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) blog series, Tom Lee outlines the reasons why 18% of families are in serious financial difficulties, compared with 9% of other households. Read more here
Covid-19: A Global Pandemic
Understanding the Gendered Effects of Covid-19 An international working group of academic researchers is conducting a study into the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak and the associated government responses on women and marginalised groups. The goal is for findings to inform decision-makers to improve the policy response and minimise any secondary socio-economic effects of COVID-19 on households and individuals. If you have been impacted and are able to participate, please email gender.covid@lse.ac.uk.
The Care Economy is sent Deeper into Crisis Mode As part of the UNRISD Covid-19 blog series, Silke Staab explores how The COVID-19 crisis exposes the fragility of the care economy. Women comprise 70% of health workers globally and even higher shares of care-related occupations such as nursing, midwifery and community health work, which all require close contact with patients. Read more here
Past Highlights
Under the Blacklight: The Intersectional Vulnerabilities that COVID Lays Bare, a global perspective from The African American Policy Forum podcast series. Listen here.
Global Feminist Perspective on the Pandemic: What "normal" do we expect when the crisis is over? by the European Network of Migrant Women. Read here.
Calls for Papers on Gender and Covid-19
Feminist Studies Journal. Submit by July 15, 2020. Find out more here.
International Association of Feminist Economics. Submit by May 31, 2020. Find out more here.
The Women's Budget Group invites you to a digital seminar to discuss the beginnings of a Feminist Green New Deal.
Covid-19 has exposed serious inequalities in our economy with women bearing the brunt of exposure and economic downturn. Join WBG's Sara Reis and Chair of the Women’s Environmental Network, Halima Begum, interview authors of an exciting new policy paper to discuss: ‘What would a Feminist Green New Deal look like?’ Register here.
Organised by the New Economics Foundation (NEF,) featuring NEF social policy head Sarah Bedford, Unison organiser Conor McGurran, Coordinator of the Policy Advisory Group of the Women’s Budget Group Sue Himmelweit and Equal Care Co-op's Emma Back. Register here.
Organised by the Graduate Institute Geneva, speakers in this webinar will share the perspectives of female health workers during this pandemic, and review lessons learnt from previous large scale outbreaks - how health systems lose when gender equality is ignored, what can be done better, and how we all may gain by applying a gender lens. Register here.
The Women’s Budget Group scrutinises government policy from a gender perspective. We are a network of leading feminist economists, researchers, policy experts and campaigners committed to achieving a more gender equal future. We have worked towards this since 1989.
