The full extent and impact the current crisis will have on gender equality is not foreseeable yet, but first indications show dramatic spikes in various areas, e.g. an increase of domestic abuse and intimate partner violence, denied access to reproductive health institutions, financial disadvantages and risk of poverty through the loss of job and/ or unpaid care work. Historic crises have always had dire effects on women and girls and the level of gender equality in general, and the spread of the new Corona Virus Disease will not be different – unless immediate action is taken by integrating a gender-sensitive lens to all COVID-19 responses.

The focus of the webinar will have a particular emphasis on the impact of COVID-19 on gender equality and rights of women and girls in the context of faith and religion as well as their leadership role in response to the current crisis. Religions for Peace (RfP) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR) will co-facilitate the webinar with the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), within the committee’s “CEDAW Knowledge Hub” initiative. By initiating this dialogue between various representatives from multi-religious faith and human rights communities, we aim at creating a platform for mutual learnings, new insights and the exchange of best practices to ensure the integration of gender-sensitive crisis responses, using the #Faith4Rights toolkit, notably its modules 5, 6 and 16.

The discussion will be held virtually via the Zoom Webinar platform.

For more information, see the flyer.