ReliefWeb

Overview

This report is an overview of the gendered impact of COVID-19 on the livelihoods, income and employment of women, men, girls, and boys in different countries affected by humanitarian crises. These countries were included in the August 2020 INFORM Severity Index and have genderdisaggregated data and analyses available at national or subnational levels. The report can be used by staff of humanitarian, donor, and operational actors covering a global or crisis-specific portfolio to roll out gender-nuanced, inclusive, and effective programmes based on an understanding of how the pandemic has modified gender and power dynamics in the livelihoods sector and how these dynamics have emerged in different contexts. The report explores lessons learned from previous epidemics to illustrate how women, men, girls, and boys were affected differently in their livelihood prospects and coping capacities. Building on this pool of information, the report analyses the impact of the present pandemic, comparing current phenomena with baseline data for different regions, countries, and states. The impact of the COVID-19-induced economic crisis is analysed on three levels: women’s and men’s contributions to care work; women’s and men’s access to employment; and women’s and men’s access to financial services, income sources and properties. In a perspective of intersectionality, the second section focuses on the gendered dynamics emerging in three groups facing specific livelihood challenges, based on occupation and age: sex workers, domestic workers, and boy and girls. The report concludes by illustrating the risk of rising economic violence as an immediate consequence of deepening gender inequalities during the pandemic.