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21.07.2023 | Original Article

Gendering the Pandemic: Women’s Health Disparities From a Human Rights Perspective

verfasst von: JhuCin Rita Jhang, Po-Han Lee

Erschienen in: Health Care Analysis | Ausgabe 1/2024

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Abstract

As COVID-19 keeps impacting the world, its impact is felt differently by people of different sexes and genders. International guidelines and research on gender inequalities and women’s rights during the pandemic have been published. However, data from Taiwan is lacking. This study aims to fill the gap to increase our knowledge regarding this issue and provide policy recommendations. This study is part of a more extensive project in response to the fourth state report concerning the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in Taiwan in 2022. We have drawn on the guidelines and documents published by the United Nations human rights bodies, conducted interviews with advocacy and professional practitioners, and hosted a study group comprising students and teachers from the National Taiwan University College of Public Health to supplement the interview data. The data were analyzed thematically. The results include five themes: (1) particular health risks to carers (primarily women); (2) COVID-related measures’ impact on women’s health and health behaviors; (3) highly gendered psychological maladjustment; (4) increase in gender-based violence and domestic violence; and (5) mental health inequities and intersectionality. The study has global implications for societies of similar sociopolitical contexts and developmental statuses. To truly live up to the standard of CEDAW and other international human rights principles, we ask that central and local government be more aware of these lived experiences and adjust their policies accordingly, accounting for gender sensitivity.

Here, sex refers to variation in the biological attributes that characterize female, male, and intersex, and how they are expressed; gender connotes the social, behavioral, and cultural attributes, expectations, and norms associated with sexed bodies.

The official abbreviations for both the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its monitoring organ, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, are the same as “CEDAW”.

The contributors to the Joint Report include the Garden of Hope Foundation, Kaohsiung Pride Association, Kaohsiung Women Awakening Association, League for Persons with Disabilities, Modern Women’s Foundation, Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights, and Young Women’s Christian Association of Taiwan–besides the Mental Health Association in Taiwan, for which the two co-authors are responsible.

In fact, among the so-called nine core international human rights, in addition to CEDAW, Taiwan has also internalized, through treaty ratification or an Enforcement Act, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD); International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR); International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR); Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC); and Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). There is an ongoing debate around whether and how to internalise the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT).

Article 12 of the CEDAW:

1. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the field of health care in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, access to health care services, including those related to family planning.

2. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph I of this article, States Parties shall ensure to women appropriate services in connection with pregnancy, confinement and the post-natal period, granting free services where necessary, as well as adequate nutrition during pregnancy and lactation.

Article 13 of the CEDAW:

States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in other areas of economic and social life in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, the same rights, in particular:

(a) The right to family benefits;

(b) The right to bank loans, mortgages and other forms of financial credit;

According to CEDAW’s General Recommendation No 28, different treatment explicitly based on the grounds of sex and gender differences constitutes direct discrimination against women; indirect discrimination occurs when a policy “appears to be neutral as it relates to men and women, but has a discriminatory effect in practice on women” due to pre-existing inequalities [5, para 16].

These organizations have provided support regarding information and consultation services, policy advocacy initiatives, and networking of people who are in need and agencies who offer professional help.Taiwan Association of Family Caretakers: https://www.familycare.org.tw/book/10729l; Taoyuan Lifeline Association: http://www.1995line.org.tw/; Taiwan Counseling Psychologist Union: https://www.tcpu.org.tw/; Taiwan Women’s Link: http://twl.ngo.org.tw/; Taiwan Nurses Union: https://sites.google.com/twnu.org/tnu/%E9%A6%96%E9%A0%81; Mental Health Association: https://www.mhat.org.tw/.

Later, the CECC cancelled the alert-level system on 24 February 2022.

The English versions of all the shadow/parallel reports submitted by civil society organizations can be found at: http://www.cedaw.org.tw/en/en-global/download/index/4.

See also Conclusions and Recommendations of the International Review Committee announced on 1 December 2022, following the Review of Taiwan’s Fourth Report on the Implementation of CEDAW (which did not happen yet when the article was written). Available at: https://gec.ey.gov.tw/Page/8311232E3E16856.

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Titel: Gendering the Pandemic: Women’s Health Disparities From a Human Rights Perspective
verfasst von: JhuCin Rita Jhang
Po-Han Lee
Publikationsdatum: 21.07.2023
Verlag: Springer US
Erschienen in: Health Care Analysis / Ausgabe 1/2024
Print ISSN: 1065-3058
Elektronische ISSN: 1573-3394
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10728-023-00463-x

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Gendering the Pandemic: Women’s Health Disparities From a Human Rights Perspective

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Live-Webinar "Urologie und Sexualmedizin in der Praxis"

Springer Medizin

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