Overview

How dominant patriarchal structures permeated the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic-and women's multiple and varied experiences of and resistance to these structures. Feminism and COVID-19 explores different but common themes related to women's experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Julia Smith and Clare Wenham bring together a unique multicentered, multidisciplinary, and transnational author team, covering nine case studies from Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Hong Kong, Kenya, Nigeria, and the United Kingdom. The chapters reveal how women around the world were both central to the delivery of the COVID-19 response, albeit unrecognized, and disproportionately affected by its secondary effects. The lost income and opportunities, as well as increased unpaid care work and violence, were not caused by the pathogen but by preexisting structural inequities that pervade global political, economic, and social systems and structures. This inequality permeated global and local responses to the pandemic, which, on the whole, only included gender considerations in the most superficial ways but not in terms of money, protection, or resources. The transnational feminist perspectives speak to both global patterns and local heterogeneity, emphasizing the importance of highlighting the localized experiences of different groups of women impacted by the same global crisis.

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9780262554039

Table of Contents

Reviews

ENDORSEMENTS ""THE definitive volume for understanding the social and gendered dimensions of pandemics—and a vital resource for building more inclusive policies in times of crisis."" —Dr. Jocalyn Clark, International Editor, The BMJ; Former Executive Editor, The Lancet “This powerful book shows that COVID-19 didn’t create inequality—it revealed and deepened it.” —Sarah Hawkes, Professor of Global Population Health, Monash University Malaysia; Cochair, Lancet Commission on Gender and Global Health “This important book continues the vital scholarly effort that revealed women’s invisibility in early COVID efforts, documenting impacts and lessons to ensure it’s not repeated. A powerful and informative must-read.” —Ginette Azcona, Senior Policy Specialist, Research and Data, UN Women ""This brilliant book is a must-read for everyone working toward gender equity in today's world of constant intertwined crises."" —Sabine Oertelt-Prigione, Professor of Sex- and Gender-Sensitive Medicine, Radboud University and University of Bielefeld; Chair, EU Commission Expert Group “Gender and COVID-19” ""This remarkable volume about COVID-19 policies in diverse countries and territories shows that, rather than creating ruptures leading to transformational change, health emergencies actually reinscribe patriarchy and intersectional inequalities."" —Jennifer M. Piscopo, Professor of Politics and Gender and Director of the Gender Institute, Royal Holloway, University of London

Author Information

Julia Smith is Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University. She is the author of Conscripted to Care and Civil Society Organizations and the Global Response to HIV/AIDS. Clare Wenham is Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy at the London School of Economics. She is the author of Feminist Global Health Security and coauthor of Declaring a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

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