A Feminist Response to COVID-19

Today we are delighted to support the launch of a new and critically important website: ‘a volunteer online data repository of information on feminist principles and actions, as well as policy responses to the COVID crisis.’

After the 64th UN Commission on the Status of Women in March 2020 was cancelled, feminists came together within days to share, support and to continue strategic work that couldn’t wait. They worked ‘across global movements centered on human rights, sustainable development, and economic and social justice’ to launch this vital resource. As Emilia Reyes and Bridget Burns explain in introducing it, “Working at the intersections of multiple forms of crisis is not a new task for feminist advocates”.

The new website provides a set of principles to outline a feminist response to COVID 19, which involves a ‘paradigm shift’ – a different financial model – that relies ‘on adequate and equitable financing.’

You’ll also find on the Feminist Covid Response website:

1. Response Tracker. This marks policies or laws, temporary measures, or observed responses by country and by theme (for example, education).
2. Online Dialogues. This is a repository of online dialogues and webinars that have been held to discuss the intersections of gender, feminism, care, women’s rights and COVID-19.
3. Resources. This section contains a collection of feminist statements and analyses, mutual aid resources and organising tools.

This is an important opportunity to map the impact of COVID 19 and to ensure feminist solutions prevent a return to ‘business as usual’ once the crisis is perceived to be ‘over’, so please contribute with your own resources on tax justice, your experiences and your responses to COVID 19. This video below from the Womens Budget Group in the UK demonstrates how different elements of gender inequality are connected, and how unpaid care lies at the centre of this spiral. The experience of the pandemic is highlighting how deeply unequal women and girls are worldwide and we must now ensure these brutal lessons result in good policy.

We congratulate and are grateful to the twenty five volunteers from across the world who have worked so hard to publish this website. Please share widely, social media hashtags are #FeministResponse #COVID19

Principles (English): https://www.feministcovidresponse.com/static/media/principles-en.a6f9f4a2.pdf

Principles (Spanish): https://www.feministcovidresponse.com/static/media/principles-es.a419eb55.pdf

Principles (French): https://www.feministcovidresponse.com/static/media/principles-fr.a437b8f3.pdf