Crisis response

Iceland’s prime minister has indicated that female leaders have offered a better response to coronavirus across the world than some of their male counterparts. Katrín Jakobsdóttir said: ‘It’s a remarkable fact that a lot of female leaders have actually been listening very closely to our scientists.’ She was asked on This Morning about whether female prime ministers have seemingly done better when it comes to containing Covid-19.

Evidence shows that disease outbreak affects women and men differently, that pandemics exacerbate inequalities for girls and women, who are also often the hardest hit, and that women play an outsize role responding to crises, including as frontline healthcare and social workers, caregivers at home, and as mobilizers in their communities.

GENEVA (22 April 2020) – The UN Women’s rights committee calls on governments and multilateral institutions to ensure women’s equal representation in formulating responses to COVID-19 and strategies to recover from the crisis.