Webinar Twenty Eight: Gender-based inequality during and post crisis - The gendered effect of COVID-19

COVID-19 has affected the rich and the poor, and we have seen different tactics to contain the spread of the virus, approaches to protect vulnerable people and different policy responses to support those in need. 

Yet, while we are all at risk of suffering from this virus we are not all equally affected by it. 

Gender-based inequalities have long been discussed, but they become more evident in times of crisis. They become evident at home, at work and in the broader society. Gender is one way to approach the discussion of inequality, and this discussion becomes further complex when we interweave aspects like disability, age or race.

Some talk about the ‘double double shift’ or the ‘third shift’ that women are doing at home. In some homes men and women are sharing - more or less equally - the cooking, cleaning, looking after children or supporting them with remote learning, while both partners are working from home or not. 

In other homes, men hold the secure job and the woman’s paid work has become secondary, her role being primarily to ‘keep everything afloat’ at home - pushing us back to the 1950s. 

Some situations are also brighter than others. We have seen an unprecedented increase in the cases of domestic violence, where most often the victim is a woman. 

Many jobs have been lost, but as women are overrepresented in industries like tourism and hospitality, or are more likely to be employed casually, women and men have been disproportionately affected by job losses. This will unavoidably have a negative impact on women’s financial independence and well-being. 

We have also seen in Australia, unfortunate reactions against people of different races, opening a whole new discussion at the crossroads between gender and race.

In this impact2020 webinar, hosted by CSI's and Women in Research
Network (WiRN) UNSW representative, Dr Ioana Ramia, and a panel of
experts on gender, human rights, workplace relations, and financial
wellbeing will discuss how the multiple facets of COVID-19 - and
crisis situations in general - affect women. They'll discuss the
inequalities we should be prepared to address and the potential tactics
we should apply to ensure existing disadvantage is not further
entrenched.

The discussion will also tap into the experience of women in different circumstances, including women in academia.

Panellists:

• Dr Ioana Ramia
• Scientia Professor Louise Chappell
• Professor Rae Cooper
  
• Professor Abigail Powell
• Professor Siobhan Austen

Please note: This webinar starts at 4:00pm (AEST) and registrations will close an hour before the webinar starts.

The webinar will be recorded and emailed to attendees in a few weeks. Later in the year all impact2020 webinar recordings will be publicly available.

This impact2020 webinar is a free event presented by the Centre for Social Impact (CSI).

About impact2020

These are unprecedented times and the upheaval to our society will require an extraordinary response from our leaders, our thinkers and our do-ers.

impact2020 - presented by the Centre for Social Impact - offers free daily webinars for the Australian for-purpose sector, covering a range of social impact topic areas with our innovative researchers, educators and thought leaders.

Sign up for more info as we progressively announce our program and presenters.