Our response to covid-19 must not be gender blind nor a gender battle

Covid-19 impacts men, women, and non-binary genders differently—and not equally. The virus is not gender blind, but evidence shows that over 80% of covid-19 health policies ignore gender, with serious consequences for everyone’s health and wellbeing. Globally, men compared to women experience a higher severity of illness and mortality from covid-19. The pandemic might therefore be perceived as a “men’s health emergency.” The reality, however, is far more complex.

Women may have lower mortality rates, but they bear the brunt of the major secondary impacts of the covid-19 pandemic, which  have worsened their already weaker social and economic status. The pandemic has led to increases in gender based violence, unwanted pregnancies, stillbirths, and maternal deaths. Anxiety and depression in women have risen, and more girls have been forced out of school and into child marriages. Women have more exposure to covid-19 in the workplace as they constitute 70% of health and social care workers globally, and have faced more challenges returning to work. People of non-binary genders have also experienced the negative effects of sex-specific covid-19 lockdown measures adopted by some countries, and have struggled to obtain appropriate sexual, reproductive, and mental healthcare.

Originally published in BMJ Opinion.

By Peter Baker, Ann Keeling, Arush Lal, Chadia Wannous, and Mahesh Puri