The COVID-19 pandemic caused a lot of problems for women globally.  Women's roles in healthcare, caregiving and vulnerable industries made them more at risk to infectious diseases. This was a massive struggle for women world wide.  Women, during this time, had to deal with care burdens, job losses, and increased violence.  This was happening while healthcare access, especially for sexual and reproductive services, was disrupted.

        In the past, global responses to pandemics did not consider gender differences.  The UN Women tried to fix this with their policies in 2020.  They analyzed 301 recommendations to see how well they addressed gender issues.  The READ approach was used for this analysis.  They looked at socio-economic security, violence against women and girls (VAWG), and people living across borders.  These documents were also assessed using WHO's Gender Responsive Scale.

        The results showed that UN Women did address some important gender issues.  However, the recommendations often stopped short of promoting systemic change.  This showed a gap between acknowledging gender disparities and actually implementing transformative policies.

        Gender issues have long been overlooked in global health responses.  The pandemic highlighted the structural inequalities that women face.  This research contributes to debates on how global institutions can help with gender-responsive pandemic policies.  It calls for more meaningful action in addressing gender inequities in global health governance.  The UN Women's efforts, while a step forward, showed that more work is needed.

        The world needs to do better in supporting women.  It is important to have policies that address the root causes of gender inequality.  Pandemics are hard on everyone, but women face unique challenges.  The UN Women's response shows that there is progress, but there is still a long way to go.  Pandemics are not just health crises, they are also social and economic crises.  The response to them needs to reflect that.  This means thinking about how gender issues are affected and making sure policies address these issues.  The UN Women's response showed a good effort, but it made clear that more needs to be done.

        The pandemic showed that our society is not fair to women.  The response to the pandemic needs to be thoughtful and deliberate.  This means thinking about how policies affect women differently.  It means making sure that policies are fair and equitable.  It means addressing the root causes of gender inequality.  The pandemic is a challenge, but it is also an opportunity.  It is a chance to make our world a better, more equal place.  It is a chance to make sure that women are not left behind.  The UN Women's response showed that there is progress, but there is still a long way to go.

COVID-19: Women's Struggle and UN's Response

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