ISLAMABAD, APR 15 (DNA) – Covid-19 has posed unprecedented challenges for the nations across the globe including the specific impacts on women’s health and socio-economic wellbeing.

However, in developing countries like Pakistan, the women and girls have to bear the extra brunt of the situation because of their lack of access to support and safeguarding mechanisms.

The speakers shared these views with the audience of the 16th episode of the Online Policy Dialogue Series titled ‘Covid-19 crisis: Impact on women’s health, domestic violence, and lost livelihoods’ organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) on Wednesday.

H.E. Wendy Gilmour, High Commissioner of Canada to Pakistan, said that the pandemic has hit various countries quite hard including Canada. However, with the help of a number of spaces such as tax relief and other support mechanisms, we have been able to respond to the urgent needs of our population. She said the nature of impacts in developing countries like Pakistan is different and the lack of resources in the situation of lockdown is having the worst impact on vulnerable segments of society including women.

She said that the institutions that are at the forefront while responding to the pandemic are coherently male-dominated and thus, the women’s voices are excluded from the key decision-making on the response side. She said that drastic measures are required to ensure the access of women to healthcare and other essential services through inclusive decision-making.

Ms Khawar Mumtaz, Former Chairperson of National Commission on the Status of Women, said that we need to check that whether women are being tested for the coronavirus or not. She says in the situation of the lockdown, women are not only stressed by additional burden of household responsibilities but are also prone to the frustration of men that are not able to find work in this crisis. The data on how the crisis is affecting women, overall state of gender based violence (GBV), domestic violence and other specific impacts on women needs to be compiled and disseminated on an urgent basis.

Earlier, Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri, Executive Director SDPI, noted that evaluating the impacts of the global pandemic on already marginalized segments including the women, is a pressing need of the hour. He said that the cash grants to most vulnerable families have been a positive step on the part of the government; however, “I would urge the authorities, especially the district administrations to disseminate the grant among the women while respecting their dignity and ensuring safe social distancing,” he emphasized.

The distinguished speakers including Dr Eaisha Tareen, Special Education and Training Centre and Director the Palm Practice;Ms Sadia Bokhari, Founder-Director Mohsinini Resource Center,  Dr Seema Pervez, Psychologist and former Professor at Quaid-e-Azam University and Ms Saman Ahsan – Programme Management Consultant at UN Women, covered the diverse aspects of the women specific impacts of the pandemic.

The discussants highlighted that the situation of lockdown which is imperative to stop the spread of disease, is having different kinds of impacts on women’s mental health as well as worsening the existing challenges they are facing including the domestic violence, malnutrition, lack of access to healthcare and economic opportunities.  The speakers urged the government to ensure gender-based approach while including women in decision-making for all the key interventions.

Dr Vaqar Ahmed, Joint Executive Director SDPI on the occasion underpinned the need of gender-based development budget. Ms Uzma Haroon, while moderating the session thanked the participants for joining the seminar and highlighted that how the pandemic and lockdown situation is impacting adversely the lives of women both in terms of health and livelihoods.