The Gendered Dimensions of Social Protection in the COVID-19 Context

Megan O’Donnell, Mayra Buvinic, Shelby Bourgault and Brian Webster
Additional contact information
Megan O’Donnell: Center for Global Development
Mayra Buvinic: Center for Global Development
Shelby Bourgault: Center for Global Development
Brian Webster: Center for Global Development

No 576, Working Papers from Center for Global Development

Abstract: A growing evidence base points to the gendered impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, with women and girls in low- and middle-income countries at greater risk of experiencing the consequences of rising poverty and food insecurity, increased unpaid care work, and gender-based violence. In parallel, governments across the world, some with the support of development banks and other donor institutions, have either newly launched or expanded existing social protection programs in an effort to support their populations. This paper, part of a series documenting the gendered dimensions of the COVID-19 crisis, focuses on the role of social protection policies and programs in addressing gender inequalities, or in some cases risking their exacerbation. The paper begins with a conceptual framework illustrating how the pandemic, associated response measures, economic contraction and different coping strategies intersect with underlying gender norms and inequality in ways that differentially affect the wellbeing of women and girls. It proceeds to synthesize the existing evidence on how COVID-19 has contributed to global poverty, food insecurity, increased care burdens, and gender-based violence, how women and girls are disproportionately experiencing these negative impacts, and how social protection can address them. The paper then outlines how national governments and donor institutions have mobilized social protection measures and to what extent these measures are gender-sensitive – and concludes with recommendations for donors and policymakers to ensure future social protection programs reach and benefit women and girls.

Keywords: gender; social protection; social assistance; cash transfers; poverty; food insecurity; care work; pandemic response; COVID-19; gender-based violence. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B54 I38 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 41 pages
Date: 2021-04-07
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cgdev.org/publication/gendered-dimensi ... l&utm_campaign=repec

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cgd:wpaper:576

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from Center for Global Development Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Publications Manager ().