The SDGs - ‘Sustainable Development Goals’ are a combination of 17 interlaced goals adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015 (targets and indicators included in the resolution on 6th July 2017). Intending to promote prosperity along with protecting the planet, they are all set to be achieved by the end of 2030 (according to the 2030 Agenda, a part of UN Resolution 70/1). The goals target necessary and exigent problems in today’s world, ranging from goals of zero hunger, no poverty, to climate action and sustainable cities and communities.
The female population represents almost half of the world’s population, and thus half the share in its development and sustenance. With the notion that gender bigotry is sabotaging the social fabric while stagnating social progress and under-representing different ‘trivial’ problems of women, and thus needs changing, Goal-5 was introduced. Pertaining to gender equality with a total of 9 targets, it aims at achieving political, economic, and social equality for women. This international commitment to achieve a world without gender inequalities has brought out some changes with the rate of child marriages on a decline (mainly because of a drop to almost half in India). A notable campaign called the ‘Spotlight Initiative’ was launched in 2017 with a seed funding commitment of €500 million from the European Union, representing an unprecedented global effort to invest in gender equality and women’s empowerment as a precondition for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Fast-forwarding to today, where COVID-19 has turned the world upside down, caused human life deterioration along with wrecking the world’s economy. The effect of COVID-19 has more or less reversed all progress made, with women being out and about on the suffering forefront generated from the immediate effects of the virus. Not only do women find themselves the worst hit by the pandemic, but they also play the role of the vast majority of the frontline responders, health professionals, community volunteers, transport and logistics managers, scientists and more, making cardinal contributions to address the outbreak every day. If fighting with a deadly virus on an everyday basis wasn’t enough, women continue to suffer from increased abuse, domestic violence and are at greater risk of exploitation and unpaid labour. Mixing all this with a little spice of possibility of an increase in pay-gap, you might as well applaud the dish of ‘collateral damage’, if not taste it.
With a little statistics in the mix; it is quite easy to google and find out that about 60% of women work in the informal sector and are naturally at a higher chance of facing the brunt of the falling economy. Working in this sector leaves women often without any protection of labour laws, social benefits such as pension, health insurance, or paid sick leave. They routinely work for lower wages, and in unsafe conditions, including the risk of sexual harassment. All this along with pay cuts makes it difficult for them to survive.
The pandemic has also produced a steep increase in violence against women; mainly domestic violence where the victim is basically trapped in the house with the abuser, having no facility to obtain services otherwise provided (read-helplines). In India itself, about 86% of the time, domestic violence remains unreported. Pair it with the spike in the reports of domestic violence during the lockdown (which was more than what was reported in the previous 10 years combined), it isn’t difficult to do the math (even with average skills) and ascertain the fact that the female population has it tough.
Also, women have always constituted the majority of ‘caregivers’ in the household or communities, even without the crisis to tackle. With COVID-19 down the block, it has completely disturbed the little work-life balance most women bleakly maintained. With children to care for and a house to look after, unpaid labour for women has definitely increased and is way more than their male counterparts. Due to this lopsided division of labour in households (read- heterosexual households), women are most likely to be unable to work in their particular job fields and not surprisingly, are most likely to be chucked out during the recession. Like a cherry on the cake, reports suggest that gender gap closing progress may be either stalled or even reversed during the given circumstances.
So what can the policymakers do?
Keeping in mind that gender inequality and discrimination isn’t an inbuilt thought, but an outcome of years of patriarchal values embedded naturally into the system, the first step should be eroding social norms that are primal to unequal distribution of gender roles between women and men, thus creating an equal share in unpaid labour. Faster response from helplines can help in reducing the chances of life-threatening steps taken by the victim or abuser. Consideration of marital rape as a crime and stricter laws to punish the abuser in cases of violence or sexual harassment even under COVID-19 conditions must be implemented to prevent the rise of similar cases.
Pay gap reduction is another trivial aspect, which needs to be addressed. Following in the footsteps of Iceland, which has come out as the first country requiring gender pay equality with laws making it mandatory for companies with 25 or more staff to gain a certificate proving pay equality. Encouraging the use of ‘paternity’ leaves can work wonders in reducing the unequal distribution of unpaid labour between the genders.
No. No policy, no initiatives, no campaigns can ever be good enough until and unless every living and breathing human is a part of the change. ‘Change in mentality’ is a phrase so copiously used that it has lost its value. No pandemic situation should give the right to anybody to treat almost half the world’s total population like it doesn’t matter when in reality it sustains the entire world. In a world where human beings are on the brink of losing their humanity, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see humans being wiped out, not because of the pandemic, but because they were too proud to give the female counterparts an equal world to live in.
In an attempt to not be salty any further and end this article; when all is done it boils down to a single feeling - empathy. Our war with gender inequality has been a long process, and it isn’t ending anytime soon. We as human beings, not female, not male; together can win this fight if we have the will to. The slow pace of life owing to the pandemic is our chance to reflect upon ourselves and emerge as better human beings.
Further Readings and Reference-
1. Campaign- Spotlight Initiative
2. Marital rape in India- a decriminalized crime
3. Coronavirus: 9 ways you can support gender equality from your home
5. Goal-5
6. Data- Domestic violence complaints https://www.thehindu.com/data/data-domestic-violence-complaints-at-a-10-year-high-during-covid-19-lockdown/article31885001.ece
Author-
Aarohi Chauhan
Aarohi Chauhan is a student of Mathematics at the University of Delhi. She's surviving on her unhealthy amount of addiction to fiction and she thinks she overthinks a lot. Her areas of expertise include making bad jokes and she's often the only one laughing at them. She has a serious condition called -'has to pet every dog and cat I see'. A feminist by birth, she thinks she's finally found the perfect platform to reach out to her kind. Reach out if you're a dog/cat parent.
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