We talked with Prof. Dr. Serpil Sancar from Association for Monitoring Gender Equality about the gender dimension of the coronavirus crisis and how to monitor the #Gender inequalities deepened by the #COVID-19 pandemic.
It's known that crisis periods such as the pandemic deepen gender inequality and affect the social life of women negatively. The information reflected in the press also confirms this fact. While the studies from lots of countries have revealed an increase in domestic violence, women’s sharings are also demonstrating that the domestic labor process has intensified along with the quarantine.
It’s also reflected in the press that the service industry which is one of the most affected areas by the pandemic has a high density of women workers and these women have lost their job or they’re on unpaid leave right now.
* The language of the video is Turkish.
While Sancar is stating that it’s important to monitor and discuss the gender dimension of the pandemic, she is also claiming that the data from the area of healthcare and employment which are the most affected fields by the pandemic, includes a lot of data regarding gender. "The data released to the public during the pandemic does not tell us how the sexes were affected by the epidemic and what risks they faced," said Sancar.
"For example, many of those who died from the virus were male. This is interesting data. This raises several questions for us. Are women more resilient than men, or are women experiencing a problem accessing healthcare facilities? We need the gender distribution of sick people. We need to learn how many women apply to the hospital and how many men. We need to know these.” While explaining the necessity of the gender monitoring studies in the field of employment which is the other topic affected by the epidemic, Sancar said, “How many women and how many men are unpaid, unemployed or not able to go to work. It’s happening according to which type of employment and industry? We need to access this information.”