The fiction that 'unpaid care work is not work' is exposed. But are we finally going to recognize and respect the role of women and girls as primary caregivers? Or will we continue to turn a blind eye on the increased work load they have to deal with in addition to being put to heightened risks of sexual and other forms of gender-based violence during the lockdown? It is now a well known fact that violence against women has increased during the lockdown.
It is high time we got serious about building our response to the pandemic on science based analysis & interpretation of data and not on off-the-hand remarks entrenched in patriarchy.
Yes, we need more women in the workforce at every level of governance. Only then can we expect gender sensitive approaches and solidarity towards each other. That is why the only possible future is a feminist future where all genders live in solidarity with each other.
The United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has very rightly said: "COVID-19 has exposed the lie that free markets can deliver healthcare for all, the fiction that unpaid care work isn't work, the delusion that we live in a post-racist world. We are all floating on the same sea, but some are in super yachts and others clinging to drifting debris."
Shobha Shukla - CNS (Citizen News Service)
(Shobha Shukla is the founding Managing Editor of CNS (Citizen News Service) and is a noted health and gender justice advocate. She is a former senior faculty of Loreto Convent College and current Coordinator of Asia Pacific Media Network to end TB & tobacco and prevent NCDs. Follow her on Twitter @shobha1shukla)
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