In March last year, one year after the outbreak of the Corona epidemic, the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Report 2021 stated that the Covid-19 epidemic had created new barriers to building an inclusive and prosperous economy and society. The epidemic has exacerbated pre-existing gender inequality.
Due to the epidemic, people have been under strict restrictions, people have been kept under house arrest. People's livelihood has been damaged. As human helplessness has increased, so has aid. Because, the system of assistance and services in the society or health center has been damaged by the epidemic, in many cases it has broken down. The pressure is more on women.
At the beginning of the epidemic, in March 2020, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) stated that the prevalence of the disease affects men and women differently. Women make up 60 percent of the global health and social services sector. We have to pay special attention to them. Anxiety can lead to increased marital abuse or domestic violence. Sexual and reproductive rights may be violated. The UNFPA also made a number of recommendations.
Another review by Abu Jamil Faisal found that between May 2020 and May 2021, the use of a pill (happy) decreased by about 1 percent in one year. This means that the woman had to conceive against her will or against her will.
Although several international organizations have warned about the risks to women, there are allegations that policy makers have not paid due attention. Women are a minority at the policy-making level. The efforts that have been made in the country to deal with the epidemic have given less importance to the special problems of women.
On March 8, International Women's Day (2020), the first corona patient was identified in Bangladesh. Before the patient is identified, the Department of Health develops national policies and strategies for corona epidemics and plans for the next national corona vaccination. Several people concerned said that the two and the policy did not say anything special about women with special importance.
Women have received less service
According to a recent study by two researchers from India and Bangladesh on the use of birth control pills and non-availability of them when needed, incomplete demand for birth control pills in some districts of Bangladesh has increased by 24-25 percent during the epidemic. In other words, 24-25 percent of couples in those districts did not have birth control pills at hand when needed.
The rate of unmet demand has been steadily declining over the last five decades. Before the onset of the epidemic, the demand rate was 12. Now it has increased.
Public health expert Abu Jamil Faisal was involved in the study. He told Prothom Alo that the demand for implants, a long-term method of birth control, has increased among women during the epidemic. But there was a shortage of health workers to provide these items.
Sources working on maternal health say that the rate of childbirth at home has increased. The help of skilled health workers in home delivery is less available. The risk of maternal death in home delivery is always higher.
Among Bangladeshi couples, women are more likely to use birth control pills than men. At the time of the epidemic, women were the main victims of birth control pills.
Another review by Abu Jamil Faisal found that between May 2020 and May 2021, the use of a pill (happy) decreased by about 1 percent in one year. This means that the woman had to conceive against her will or against her will.
Women need services during pregnancy, before delivery and after delivery. Women have received less of that service during epidemics. Women could not go to the service center due to restrictions or movement restrictions, refraining from receiving services. Or the person serving at the service center could not be present. This has increased the health risks of women.
Obstetricians and gynecologists have complained that since the beginning of the epidemic, there has been talk of paying more attention to women, and of emergency supplies. But these issues did not matter.
Professor Raushan Ara Begum told Prothom Alo that unwanted pregnancies have increased. MR (monthly regularization) has increased and MR complications have also increased. The number of premature babies has also increased.
Sources working on maternal health say that the rate of childbirth at home has increased. The help of skilled health workers in home delivery is less available. The risk of maternal death in home delivery is always higher.
Lockdown was carried out in Bangladesh like all over the world to prevent coronavirus infection. That being said, social distance must be maintained. This has an impact on the formal and informal sectors. People refrain from going to work, they are forced to refrain. This pressure of the epidemic is felt all over the world. Bangladeshi women are also under pressure.
According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 18 million women are employed in the labor force. 92 percent of them or more than 1 crore 48 lakh women work in the informal sector. There are some jobs in the informal sector where almost 100 percent women work.
The non-governmental organization BRAC conducted a survey in 2020 on the impact of corona on the informal sector. It was found that 9 out of 10 workers or employees had problems with their work in one way or another. Among them, 56 percent of workers said they could not go to work due to travel restrictions. Fifty-two percent said they lost their jobs because of Corona. The rate of job loss due to restrictions was higher among women. Among the people who lost their jobs, 56 percent were women and 48 percent were men.
According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 18 million women are employed in the labor force. 92 percent of them or more than 1 crore 48 lakh women work in the informal sector. There are some jobs in the informal sector where almost 100 percent women work.
At that time, workers and workers in the informal sector spoke of some problems. For example: they can't go to work, they have lost their job, family has no income, they are getting half salary, they are not getting any salary, they have no food at home, they can't rent house, there is risk of leaving work Not being able to, they are facing discriminatory treatment.
In some families, women are the only earner. Many such women stopped earning. The women who worked in the house could not enter the house due to the restrictions of 'social distance'.
More violence
Corona infection spreads panic in the minds of many.
Many suffer from stress due to loss of employment, loss of income, and coronary heart disease . It affects human behavior. Many believe that these factors contributed to the increase in violence against women during the Corona epidemic.
According to the Law and Arbitration Center (LASC), a non-governmental human rights organization, in the first year of Corona, there were more incidents of rape, domestic violence, dowry and even domestic violence than in 2019. In 2019, there were 1,413 incidents of rape, in 2020 it increased to 1,626.
In 2019, 218 women were killed by their husbands. The following year that number was 240. In all, Ask received information on 423 cases of domestic violence in 2019. In 2020, that number increased to 554.
Child marriage has not stopped in the country. Multiple media outlets have reported that child marriages have increased across the country during the epidemic. In addition to marriage, the incidence of dowry has also increased. Ask can know about 16 dowry incidents in 2019. And next year he will know about 216 incidents.
The incidence of domestic violence during the epidemic has also increased. At that time, Asak came to know about the torture of domestic workers in 45 incidents. The previous year's number was 34.
The same situation is worldwide
There have been various studies around the world on the effects of corona on women. On March 2, the medical journal The Lancet published an article on the effects of the epidemic on women in the United Kingdom. It analyzes data from 193 countries, including Bangladesh, from January 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021.
The study found that in those countries, 28 percent of women lost their jobs, compared to 20.4 percent for men. The dropout rate is higher than the dropout rate due to other reasons besides school closure. At that time, violence against women was almost one and a half times more than violence against men. Women have left more work than men to serve others during the epidemic.
There are also cases of this inequality in the case of research. The British Medical Journal reviewed 63,259 research articles on Covid-19, with women at the bottom of the list. In other words, the representation of women there is not appropriate.
The Lancet study found that women in Bangladesh were reluctant to be vaccinated, but not in large numbers. Women also lagged behind in not getting treatment and not getting medical supplies. The study also found that women in Bangladesh lost their jobs.
The British Medical Journal in the United Kingdom has tried to explain why women's issues were not given special importance in the coronary activities of different countries during the epidemic. According to the magazine, which reviews data from 115 countries' Covid-19 issues or taskforce, women are a minority in 75 percent of the decision-making committees in the country.
There are also cases of this inequality in the case of research. The British Medical Journal reviewed 63,259 research articles on Covid-19, with women at the bottom of the list. In other words, the representation of women there is not appropriate.
However, doctors and researchers at the Department of Radiology at Bringham and Women's Hospital in Boston, USA, have highlighted the level of violence against women. In 2020, 26 women came to the hospital for treatment after being tortured by their partners. Researchers tried to compare the condition of those 26 people with 40 women who came for treatment of the same condition from 2016 to 2019. The researchers found that in the previous three years, there were 16 deep wounds in women's bodies. Corona's deep wounds have increased to 26 in one year.
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