As the pandemic lays bare gender inequality, the time for change is now

One thing we know for certain is that here in Australia, we have a head start. There is no question that having come through the pandemic comparatively untarnished, we have an incredible opportunity. An opportunity to “build back better”, as the politicians tell us.

Looking backwards should be for the purpose of imagining better, not reminiscing about a past through rose-coloured glasses. Our lens should be squarely on the economic policy and social settings that enable a future worth inhabiting. To build an Australia that is ready for the multitude of challenges that lie ahead. An inclusive Australia that provides opportunities for every citizen, not just the privileged few. It is time for our period of liminality to come to an end. It is time to rebuild.

At the forefront of that process must be the equality of women. Women went into the pandemic already faced with a hugely unequal set of circumstances, and the pandemic has made that inequality even more acute. Globally, women’s jobs were 1.8 times more vulnerable in the pandemic than men’s jobs. Women make up just under 40 per cent of the world’s paid workforce but suffered 59 per cent of the job losses.

Looking backwards should be for the purpose of imagining better, not reminiscing about a past through rose-coloured glasses. Our lens should be squarely on the economic policy and social settings that enable a future worth inhabiting.

In Australia, women were the first workers to be laid off and the first to be rehired, often at a lower pay rate than before. Recruiters reported a change in priorities among women who returned to the labour market after lockdowns. Instead of picking up where they left off, in terms of both position and pay, more women took lower-paid roles for the sake of security and flexibility.

According to the Australian Institute of Criminology, almost one in 10 women experienced violence from their intimate partner between March and May 2020. For a third of those women, it was the first time this had happened.

Women continued to shoulder the overwhelming burden of unpaid care work despite men being at home in greater numbers than ever before. Provisional results of a survey by the University of Melbourne suggest that in households with children, parents are putting in an extra six hours a day of care and supervision, with women taking on more than two-thirds of the extra time. Australian Bureau of Statistics’ survey data reveals that women were more likely than men to feel restless, nervous, lonely and like nothing could cheer them up during the lockdowns.

A whopping 37 per cent of young women aged between 18 and 24 reported experiencing suicidal thoughts as 2020 exposed and deepened existing inequalities, revealing the frightening precariousness of Australian women’s security and happiness.

Women are more likely to be socio-economically disadvantaged and to live in poor housing conditions with decreased sanitation or overcrowding, which increases the likelihood they will contract and spread COVID-19.

Women also make up 75 per cent of the health workforce – and are more likely to work in roles that require direct physical contact with patients – also placing them at greater risk of contracting the virus.

In short, if the day-to-day impacts of gender inequality weren’t already apparent to an individual woman, they certainly made themselves known throughout 2020.

Loading

Perhaps that’s why in March 2021, nearly 100,000 people marched on the streets of Australia’s cities and towns, demanding justice for women. These rallies followed extraordinary allegations of sexual misconduct and assault in the nation’s parliament. They proceeded further with revelations of harassment, sexism and abuses of power, revealing a culture of patriarchy, sleaze and recklessness in the corridors of power.

That such events had allegedly taken place in Parliament House and then been covered up sparked fury in the minds of women who had never set foot inside that building.

Whether at home, at work or in the community, women regularly report not feeling safe. There is behaviour that comes as second nature to us, which makes men scratch their heads in confusion. Behaviour, when pointed out to them, prompts anger, defensiveness, and cries of “not all men”.

We carry our keys between our fingers while walking back to the car at night. We change train carriages because a guy is looking at us in a way that feels threatening. We smile politely and decline the advances of a colleague because it will be awkward to say what we’re really thinking. We shrug off the comments of a great-uncle who is excused from the consequences of his blatantly sexist remarks because of his age. We grit our teeth when the boss calls us “sweetie” or “darling” or “babe”, or when a colleague describes us as ambitious in such a way that makes clear it isn’t a compliment.

Across the country, we gathered together in force to say that it happened to us. Our presence stole nightly news bulletins, dinner party conversations and Newspoll results for weeks at a time. But was there something else going on, too?

Women’s lives remain the subject of stereotype and expectation, judgment and lack of opportunity. The pandemic has laid these realities bare in a way that is hard to ignore.

It may be too early to use words like “movement” or “reckoning”. Terms as considerable as these can perhaps only be justly applied in retrospect. But there is something in the air, and as you’re about to learn we stand on the precipice of genuine reform that could benefit women for generations to come. There is a decades-long whisper among the women I speak with that the work of feminism is not done yet. That while things seem fair on the surface, evil lurks beneath the waters.

Women’s lives remain the subject of stereotype and expectation, judgment and lack of opportunity. The pandemic has laid these realities bare in a way that is hard to ignore.

Loading

The world is hurting as a whole, but women’s wounds cut deep, and the blood runs thick. There is pain steeped in politics, a lack of acknowledgement and empathy, a frustration that is giving way to fury that must be channelled calmly, seriously and judiciously towards a better deal for all women. Not just for the privileged – the wealthy, the white, the abled, the straight, the cis-gendered – but for women whose stories have too long been forgotten.

Coronavirus may have brought the world to its knees. But it is women who will stand strong in its wake.

Edited extract from Work. Love. Body: Future Women (Hachette), edited by Helen McCabe and Jamila Rizvi, out now.

This article appears in Sunday Life magazine within the Sun-Herald and the Sunday Age on sale September 26. To read more from Sunday Life, visit The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

Make the most of your health, relationships, fitness and nutrition with our Live Well newsletter. Get it in your inbox every Monday.