The Gendered Impact of COVID-19 in the Middle East

Jun 11, 2020 | Hafsa Halawa
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The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the normative structures and behaviors of almost every country around the world. The fallout has put pressure on even the most developed countries and its effects across the Middle East have been significant and varied.

The largest casualty of the virus is livelihoods. While scientific data from across the developed West reflects that older males make up the majority of those who have died, the lack of sex- and age-disaggregated data across the Middle East makes it hard to say if the same is true in the region. However, presuming that results are likely similar, while men face a greater risk to their health, women are expected to suffer the longer-term consequences of the pandemic as it permeates and changes societies and affects livelihoods. Across the region women hold only a minority of jobs in the public sector and even fewer in the private sector. The pandemic’s effect on livelihoods could last up to a generation, and will have a disproportionate impact on women, notably those who work with flexible schedules owing to family obligations, or have less experience, thus making up a larger number of redundancies.