A Gender-Lens for COVID-19 Response

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Shadhika is proud to advocate for a gender lens to put girls, women, and gender equality at the center of COVID-19 response, and recovery.

A Gender-Lens for COVID-19 Response

By Gillian Ford, Marketing Manager

May 7, 2020

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Shadhika is proud to join The Deliver for Good Campaign and over 700 organizations from across 100 countries to advocate for the world’s governments to apply a gender lens and put girls, women, and gender equality at the center of COVID-19 preparedness, response, and recovery.

The following is an excerpt from the open letter, which you can read in full here.

“A gender lens is vital for effective COVID-19 response and recovery efforts that are grounded in human rights and pave the way to a more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable future for all. Our collective effort to apply a gender lens to COVID-19 is key not only to an effective response but also to progress in the long term, across every measure of development. A gender lens helps ensure that policies, programs, and investments respond to specific risks, vulnerabilities, and challenges faced by girls and women — in all their diversity, in all settings — so that no one is left behind.

To ensure that girls, women, and gender equality are at the center of COVID-19 preparedness, response, and recovery, we call on governments to take the following actions:

1. Apply a gender lens in all guidance, programs, and investments related to COVID-19

2. Guarantee inclusive and diverse representation in decision making and leadership for COVID-19 response and recovery

3. Uphold girls’ and women’s human rights in health — as providers and recipients of care

4. Maintain and expand critical gender-based violence (GBV) services and interventions

5. Ensure sustained, equitable, and quality education during and after the COVID-19 pandemic

6. Support economic justice and resiliency for women

Support Shadhika’s continued efforts to provide rapid, flexible relief to the young women we support in India through our COVID-19 Response Fund.

Learn more about WomenDeliver and The Deliver for Good Campaign.

Learn more about The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which outlines 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015.