AMMAN
– A
UN Talk titled “The Gendered Response to COVID-19” occurred on Thursday,
with the goal of addressing the socioeconomic impact of the pandemic on women
and adolescent girls in Jordan.
اضافة اعلان
Done
in collaboration with the United Nations Population
Fund (
UNFP), the event consisted of two panels with three speakers each.
Sitting on the first panel was Anders
Pedersen, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Jordan; Ib Petersen,
the Deputy Executive Director at UNFPA; and Enshrah Ahmed, Head of Office at
UNFPA Jordan.
Sitting on the second panel was Salma Nims,
the Secretary General of the National Commission for Women; Abla Amawi, the
Secretary General of the Higher Population Council (HPC); and Ibrahim Aqel, the
Director of the Institute for Family Health at the King Hussein Foundation.
The
talk focused on how the
COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in
gender-based violence, owing in large part to school closures, work from home,
and lockdown measures.
Anders
Pedersen referred to this phenomenon as a “shadow pandemic, second pandemic, or
invisible pandemic,” in addition to a “secondary impact” of the virus that is
just now hitting us.
He
explained that the pandemic has exacerbated key risk factors for gender-based
violence, whether physical, psychological, or sexual. Specifically, school
closures and financial insecurity have led to “a heightened risk of sexual
exploitation, harassment, and child marriage.”
Pedersen
noted that the current situation is “in no way just a public health crisis,”
emphasizing the need to focus on engaging women – not for the mere sake of
rights and equality – but to recover from the pandemic.
Ib
Petersen advanced a similar claim, noting that what we are currently faced with
is “not just a health crisis, not just an economic crisis,” but that it also
“reflects cultural structures of different societies.”
Salma
Nims also addressed the question of overcoming such cultural structures, or
social norms.
“I
would say that when it comes to the position of the government of Jordan, there
is a commitment... but how do we realize it with all the complexities around
it?” she said.
Nims
spoke on the challenges posed by social norms and mentalities that obstruct
legislation and implementation efforts.
“We
cannot expect the government to be doing the work for gender-based violence
alone,” she added.
“We
are all working toward the same national goal.”
Abla
Amawi emphasized the importance of an intersectional approach to gender-based
violence and inequality.
“The
urban Jordanian has different challenges than the refugee woman,” she said.
She
maintained that there is need to look at how such challenges are “magnified
when the same girl is sitting in a refugee camp, without access to services.”
“The
intersectionality matters… socioeconomic and political status matters,” she
added.
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