This is week eight of our weekly newsletter covering the latest on gender, the economy and Covid-19.
Before we get stuck in, we want to tell you about an exciting new webinar series held by Feminist Library, on Women, Care and Covid-19. The first event 'Care workers in crisis' is scheduled to take place on Thursday 4 June at 7pm (BST). Register here.
Continue reading for the latest news on the economic and gendered impacts of the pandemic in the UK and beyond. Scroll to 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 published a blog exploring the latest IFS data which confirms that whilst the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted many of our social dynamics, something that has not changed is women taking more responsibility for unpaid care. Read more here.
Covid-19 crisis could set women back decades Alexandra Topping reports in The Guardian on experts' fears of the devastating effects the Coronavirus pandemic is having on gender equality, which could set women back decades. Read more here.
The decades of disruption: new social risks and the future of the welfare state The welfare inequalities that the Covid-19 crisis has exposed show why the UK must modernise the welfare state. The Institute for Public Policy Research launched a year long review into how a 'future-proof' social security system can be prepared to brace the decades of disruption ahead. Read more here.
We must act now to ensure that women do not bear the financial brunt of Covid-19 Writing for Politics Home, Gill Furness MP urges the Government to introduce Equality Impact Assessments on all measures designed to ease the economic strain in the coming years as recovery plans are put in place. She argues that this would highlight where a policy may result in inequality between men and women.Read more here.
Stories from the frontline: working as a cleaner As part of its series 'Stories from the Frontline' Autonomy published the anonymous account of a cleaner working during the Coronavirus pandemic. The series aims to capture the experiences of key workers during the Covid-19 crisis. Read more here.
Care workers should be better paid and valued after Covid-19 - poll results Fawcett Society polling shows that 72% of the public think that care workers are underpaid for the work that they do. Writing for the Guardian, Alexandra Topping reports that there has been a dramatic shift in the public perception of care workers as a direct result of the Coronavirus crisis.Read more here.
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.
Covid-19 and the impact on gender and sexuality Writing for the Institute of Development Studies, Susie Jolly explores the ways in which people all over the world are not experiencing the coronavirus pandemic equally, and the ways in which gender and sexuality have been impacted. Read more here.
The impact of the Covid-19 lockdown on Zimbabwe’s informal economy Simbarashe Gukurume and Marjoke Oosterom write a blog post for the Institute of Development Studies, discussing the ways in which the lockdown has impacted the informal workers of Zimbabwe. 90% of Zimbabweans work in the formal economy, with women constituting the large majority of informal workers. Read more here.
Past Highlights
Economy - We need to talk: will Covid-19 affect men and women differently? WBG Director Mary-Ann Stephenson spoke on Economy's podcast, about the gendered effects of Covid-19.Listen here
UN Women: virtual conference on the first 100 days of the Covid-19 outbreak in Asia and the Pacific. Watch here.
Calls for Papers on Gender and Covid-19
Feminist Studies Journal. Submit by July 15, 2020. Find out more here.
Politica Economica/Journal of Economic Policy. Submit by June 30, 2020. Find out more here.
International Association of Feminist Economics. Submit by May 31, 2020. Find out more here.
This is the second of a three-part series of webinars from Public Services International, exploring ideas for a 'gender equal new normal.' Read more here.
Domestic violence cases around the world have increased at an alarming rate since the Covid-19 pandemic prompted governments to implement lockdowns to keep their citizens from contracting and spreading the Coronavirus. International Centre for Parliamentary Studies and Public Policy Exchange will be hosting a one-day webinar on ‘Addressing Domestic Violence During Lockdown.’ Register here.
Feminist Library invites you to its first event in a series of webinars on women, care and Covid-19. Come and hear the testimonies of women who care in various situations, and find out more about the stress of working on this vital front-line, and how the vital work of caring, both paid and unpaid, has been neglected and needs to be reformed. Register here.
Speakers: Karolina Gerlich, Director of the Care Workers’ Charity (CWC) Sue Himmelweit, Women’s Budget Group Nadia Whittome, MP and care worker campaigner
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.
