Earlier this week, Women 20 (W20) Chair Dr. Thoraya Obaid called upon G20 health ministers to reckon the role women are playing in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact the novel virus is having on them. On behalf of her fellow W20’s delegates, the Saudi female trailblazer stated that G20 health chiefs should take note of women’s role in their "coordination efforts including any new task force" and as receivers of care, according to Arab News.
“Women are a vital part of the health care infrastructure that is battling the pandemic head-on — both directly, as women comprise almost 7 out of 10 health and social care workers, and indirectly as unpaid caregivers, contributing $1.5 trillion to the global health economy even before these extraordinary times. Their needs merit dedicated attention as workers and as receivers of care themselves,” Obaid said.
Women are vital to the health care infrastructure battling #COVID19, said #W20 Chair Dr. Thoraya Obaid. "Directly, as women comprise almost 7 out of 10 health and social care workers, and indirectly as unpaid caregivers, contributing $1.5 trillion to the global health economy." pic.twitter.com/EGV9nHlHya
— About Her (@AboutHerOFCL) April 21, 2020
Here are the pressing demands made to the G20:
- To appoint women to the new proposed body of a new global health task force
- To implement actions that address women’s specific healthcare needs. For instance, the W20 prompted authorities to introduce incentives for employers to implement measures that recognize the role of women as caregivers for children, the sick, disabled and elderly family members. Other demands include the expansion and sharing of data collection, reporting and analysis of the gendered impact of pandemic response policies.
- To accelerate measures to include women in national and global COVID-19 response policy and operational spaces.
- To review the gendered implications of quarantines, such as whether men and women’s different physical, cultural, security and sanitary needs are recognized in service provision.
- To increase the resources to fight gender-based violence and to introduce hotlines and monitoring systems to curb it