UN Women and UNDP have reported that only one in eight countries worldwide have brought in measures to protect women from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a report launched on 28 September, the UN agencies said that the Covid-19 crisis offered a chance to reshape societies for a fairer future.

However, they noted that many nations were failing to protect women and girls from pandemic-linked risks.

In a survey by the two agencies, they noted that while 71 percent of all gender-related measures identified focused primarily on preventing violence against women and girls, only 10 percent aimed at strengthening women’s economic security.

Less than a third of the policy measures focused on unpaid care work.

‘The Covid-19 pandemic is hitting women hard, as victims of domestic violence locked down with their abusers, as unpaid caregivers in families and communities and as workers in jobs that lack social protection’, Executive Director at UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, said.

According to the Covid-19 Global Gender Response Tracker analyses, one in five countries failed to bring in Covid-19 responses in any of the three areas, they found, and just 12 percent had taken action in all of them.

Higher-income countries were more likely to have taken action to protect women and girls.

It was also discovered that in Europe, 93 percent of countries had taken at least one measure, as compared to 63 percent of African nations.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation

Photo source: EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid