The COVID-19 Outbreak and Gender: Regional Analysis and Recommendations from Asia and the Pacific

In March 2020, emerging gender impacts and trends were highlighted in an Advocacy Brief developed by GiHA resulting in key recommendations. Good practices from across the Asia Pacific Region have seen these recommendations being put into action and six weeks on, due to the scale and rapidly changing nature of the pandemic, it was seen as crucial to continue to document evidence of gender impacts across Asia Pacific and to update analysis and recommendations.

The updated regional analysis presents evidence in the areas of unpaid care work, needs of women healthcare workers, gender-based violence, exploitation of women, girls, and at-risk groups, access to livelihoods, impact on women migrant workers, access to healthcare, exclusion from leadership roles, marginalization of women’s groups and networks, access to information, compounding impacts of secondary disasters, and equal access to shelter and to safe quarantine facilities. It presents recommendations for action to humanitarian leadership, to donors, and to governments for a more gender-responsive approach to COVID-19 response in the region.