COVID-19 : gender and access to human rights

Abstract

The Covid-19 crisis affects people differently due to already existing structural inequalities, power asymmetries, and cultural and social norms within our societies. “We are all in this together” is not accurate. Even if we are all in this, not in the same ways. Gender is one of the key dynamics shaping how people are influenced by the ongoing pandemic. And this is not peculiar to Covid-19. In any social, economic, environmental, or political turbulence such as natural disasters, wars, conflicts, or economic crises, gender inequalities and norms in interplay with race, class, ability, etc. shape the implications of such upheavals on people’s lives. In this article, I will discuss gendered implications of the Covid-19 crisis on human rights.