The health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted lives around the world, disproportionately affecting women and girls. Women make up 70 per cent of the global health workforce, which has made them more vulnerable to the risk of infection. With the additional burden of childcare and household chores, they have faced increased risk of losing their jobs or income. Violence against women, including gender-based violence, has also increased dramatically.
The devastating effects the coronavirus has had on women and girls are numerous and may have set back decades of progress made so far on gender equality, according to experts. Far from being the root cause, COVID-19 has exacerbated and made more visible long-standing inequalities affecting women around the world. Pre-existing inequalities that weigh, today more than ever, both on women and on the capacity of our societies to recover from this crisis and face new challenges.
Ensuring, through concrete actions and initiatives, equal access to education, health and opportunities in all sectors of the economy and in all professional fields, as well as equal representation and participation in public life for all girls and women is not only a matter of fundamental human rights, it is also a necessity if we are to build a more inclusive and sustainable world. Achieving gender equality can help stimulate economic growth, reduce child underdevelopment, hunger and poverty around the world, and combat climate change and other environmental problems, to name just a few examples.
Challenging historical and cultural gender biases, as well as combating gender-based violence and discrimination, could inspire the profound cultural change needed to create a new collective identity. One in which all citizens share the same rights, privileges and duties.
Some are already taking the necessary steps to achieve this. Across the globe, women, men, nations, institutions, businesses and NGOs are devising innovative, creative and impactful solutions to reduce local inequalities and address global gender issues.ro. At their level, and through these initiatives or policy measures, they are advancing not only women’s rights, but also society as a whole.
The media are essential to inspiring this change. By exploring the world’s issues through a gender lens, they can help create more diverse, progressive and inclusive narratives for the good of all. Sparknews is therefore inviting 15 media outlets from around the world to cover these stories, in the hope of raising awareness by sharing the solutions that exist and are already building our future.
This unique editorial collaboration comes just days before the Generation Equality Forum, organized by UN Women and the French government from 30 June to 2 July, which will bring together governments, businesses and change agents from around the world to identify and announce investments and policies to achieve gender equality. We hope it can help break down barriers and pave the way for a more inclusive world.
Gender Journalism
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