UN: Coronavirus Pushes 47 Million Women, Girls into Extreme Poverty

Izumi Nakamitsu, UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, and Phumzile Mlambo-Ngucka, Executive Director of UN Women, said Wednesday that Covid-19 pandemic is “a reminder, for all of us, but especially women, that traditional notion of security that fuel the weapons industry cannot protect us from dangers and challenges we routinely face.”

The two officials noted that “Before the pandemic, women were already over-represented in vulnerable economic sectors and bore the brunt of unpaid care and domestic work.”

“When COVID-19 hit, the women who make up 70 per cent of the global health care workforce found themselves on the frontlines of the response—even as countless other women lost their livelihoods and took on greater household burdens.”

The pandemic will push 47 million more women and girls into extreme poverty. Rates of intimate partner violence—mainly perpetrated by men against women—have skyrocketed, in a horrifying “shadow pandemic” of all forms of violence against women and girls.  Millions of women now face greater risks of female genital mutilation, child marriage or preventable maternal death.

“In short, the virus revealed that gender pides not only persist but are worsening, threatening decades of progress, especially if women continue to be excluded from shaping the response to the pandemic,” they added.

Recovering from the pandemic must mean strengthening women’s social and economic security, including through stronger investments in health, education, and social protection systems that advance gender equality.

Nakamitsu and Mlambo-Ngucka stressed that “the safety and well-being of everyday people has historically taken a backseat to a narrower and militarized idea of security, one that still leads decision-makers to spend vast amounts of money to build overflowing arsenals of weapons.”

“The United Nations Secretary-General called for a global ceasefire at the beginning of the pandemic, but most conflict parties kept fighting, and the international arms trade remained as active as at almost any point since the cold war.”

Yet, all these weapons have not brought us closer to peace. They have only sown distrust, eroded relations between countries, and increased global tensions.

They manifested that “the pandemic has offered us a rare chance to “reset” our approach to security in a way that also advances gender equality.”

The two UN officials pointed out that “From April 10 to May 17, we will mark the tenth annual Global Days of Action on Military Spending. To seize this moment, our governments should take a stand by sharing concrete commitments to begin redirecting resources towards a more peaceful and secure future that benefits us all.”