It’s clear that COVID-19 exacerbates multiple and intersecting vulnerabilities, and those at the margins – predominantly women and girls– are further marginalised. Yet across the health sector, sex and gender are still not incorporated in clinical studies and gender bias continues to undermine healthcare access. Women contribute disproportionately as health workers and home-carers, but not as health policy leaders.
The gendered fault lines in the health sector are now glaringly exposed by COVID-19. While women’s movements have transformed policy in other sectors, technical biases and professional hierarchies combine to exclude women and young people’s voices. The urgency of COVID-19 provides a strategic opportunity for galvanising a multi-stakeholder ecosystem for the feminist transformation of the health sector. Dialogue before, during and after the session will be sustained in partnership with stakeholders co-organising the session.
