This article was written by Anjum Sultana, Nesreen Ali, Isabelle Gelinas, Rosalind Gunn and Amy Juschka.

As countries start opening up after lockdowns, the attention of politicians, public servants and the broader public has shifted from emergency response to recovery.

Globally, public servants have swiftly responded to the needs of their constituents, producing impressive feats of public policy at record speeds. When policy measures have not met the needs of communities most affected by the Covid-19 crisis (such as low income and immigrant communities, for example), civil society has been an accountability partner, highlighting gaps in policy responses.

It is unavoidable that, when changes to public services are rolled out at lightning speed, some gaps will appear. One way of ensuring the recovery addresses the needs of everyone, particularly diverse equity-seeking communities who are the ones often in those “gaps,” is adopting an intersectional gender-based lens on all policy measures during this period and beyond.

Global takes on a feminist recovery plan

Internationally, we’re seeing organizations put forward potential gender-responsive policy prescriptions. The United Nations offers three gender-responsive cross-cutting priorities that countries can use to inform their Covid-19 relief and recovery measures. In April, the State of Hawaii released a Feminist Economic Recovery Plan. Civil society organizations such as the Scottish Women’s Budget Group have started publishing their feminist strategies for a post-pandemic economy. A global coalition is starting to track the feminist responses to Covid-19.

Women are on the frontlines of this pandemic, representing the majority of workers in essential occupations such as grocery store clerks, cleaners and care workers

At YWCA Canada, a national charity committed to advancing gender equity and human rights, we are working on a Feminist Recovery Plan to provide a pan-Canadian perspective on what actions the Federal Government and other sub-national jurisdictions should take to address the economic, health and social impacts disproportionately affecting women, Two-Spirit and gender diverse people.

Members of the public service should view these initiatives with a hopeful eye. In the post-pandemic era, the electorate around the world is hungry for change that not only addresses the immediate needs arising from this crisis. They are interested in policy measures focused on transformational shifts to address the root causes of vulnerability, marginalization and oppression.

Some trends we are seeing is a demand that the leadership of recovery efforts includes the communities most affected by the pandemic coupled with an urgent focus on increasing access to care services.

Women are on the frontlines of this pandemic, representing the majority of workers in essential occupations such as grocery store clerks, cleaners and care workers. In Canada, care workers such as personal support workers are often racialized or come from migrant communities. Furthermore, women represent over 70% of the global health workforce yet hold only 25% of senior leadership roles. At the same time, they are disproportionately facing the economic, health and social consequences. In Canada for example, women are overrepresented in Covid-19 cases, facing extensive unemployment and wage losses, and increased rates of domestic violence and have increased unpaid care work due to school closures and shuttering of child care centres. A similar story is playing out in countries around the world.

This pandemic has brought into sharp relief how fundamental care is for the health of our economies

To ensure that new policies address the needs of all, especially those most affected, decision-makers must be diverse and reflective of the public at large. Measures must include a gender-balance in national recovery task forces, ensuring gender-focused civil society organizations are part of the planning of recovery measures and establishing a Gender Equality Advisory Council similar to ones hosted by Canada and France during their respective G7 Summits. Countries with Ministers for Women and Gender Equality must be present at all recovery tables to ensure a gender-based analysis in all measures being brought forward.

Caring for the economy

In past recessions in Canada and other similar economies, the reaction has been to increase investment in physical infrastructure like roads, bridges and buildings to spur jobs in men-majority sectors. This recession is different. Many are naming it a she-cession because the bulk of the job losses have been in women-majority sectors such as retail, hospitality and food services. We do not know if these jobs will return following re-opening. At the same time, care in all its forms has been even more crucial.

This pandemic has brought into sharp relief how fundamental care is for the health of our economies. One of the key challenges during the recovery phase will be getting parents back to work. This will depend on whether they have access to child care for their children. The economy will not recover, let alone prosper, without child care. It really is, as Brock University Associate Professor Kate Bezanson says, “a magic bullet” because it provides jobs for women while also letting others return to work in other sectors.

As public servants grapple with the aftermath of this global pandemic, the feminist policymaking measures being put forward offer a roadmap towards an equitable recovery

Before the pandemic, we were facing a global shortage of care workers with the International Labour Organization reporting that there were only 206 million care workers to support the 2.1 billion people in need of care. Expanding the supply of care work by ensuring the brunt of it doesn’t automatically fall on women will both elevate the standard of living for all and provide thousands of jobs for women who can now access the labour market.

A pandemic is as good a time as any to start the transition to a care-based economy to foster healthy societies, restart the economy and provide a pathway to decent work for women.

The future of post-pandemic policymaking is feminist

As this crisis has revealed in spades, the wellbeing of our society, both from a public health and economic standpoint, relies on all of us doing well. As public servants grapple with the aftermath of this global pandemic, the feminist policymaking measures being put forward offer a roadmap towards an equitable recovery. In the past, such measures were seen as unattainable due to budgetary constraints, lack of recognition of the gendered impacts of public policies and claims that interference of the state in what the market was best positioned to address was counterproductive. There was also an overwhelming absence of political will, not from civil society but the broader public. But, that is starting to shift.

However, if we want the post-pandemic world to be more resilient to the consequences of Covid-19 and prepared for the next global pandemic, then we need to embrace deep, systemic change, starting with our care sectors.

Anjum Sultana is the National Director of Public Policy and Strategic Communications at YWCA Canada. Nesreen Ali is the Manager of Government Relations at YWCA Calgary. Isabelle Gélinas is the Director of Communications at YWCA Montreal. Rosalind Gunn is the Director of Marketing & Communications at YWCA Cambridge. Amy Juschka is the Director of Communications & Advocacy at YWCA Metro Vancouver.

(Picture credit: Unsplash)