Building back better: An intersectional feminist approach to COVID-19 recovery

As the number of COVID-19 cases continue to fall in Victoria, it is time to think deeply about what recovery looks like. In today’s analysis, Adele Murdolo (@AdeleMurdolo) of the Multi-Cultural Centre for Women’s Health (@MCWH1978) argue that the people most impacted by COVID-19, such as migrant and refugee women, should be integrally involved in the decision making about what happens next. This analysis has been adapted from a Pre-Budget submission to the Victorian government produced by the Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health.

Hidden aspects of the ‘she-cession’

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted and accentuated the gendered inequalities that exist in the Victorian community and in the health system. Evidence suggests that COVID-19 has had significant impacts on women’s mental health, and that this has compounded existing mental health inequalities between women and men. Migrant and refugee women, already disadvantaged, have been disproportionately impacted by the virus, missing out on timely and appropriate in-language health information about COVID-19, but also facing accentuated social isolation due to the digital divide, significant financial disadvantage and an increased risk of family violence.

Women have borne the brunt of the pandemic and its economic impacts. Migrant and refugee women are particularly vulnerable, with fewer worker protections or supportive government services. Photo by Vanna Phon on Unsplash

At the height of the pandemic in Victoria in July, one quarter of infections were linked to aged care, food manufacturing and public housing estates, all settings in which migrant women and their communities live and work. The affected postcodes continue to be concentrated in areas with significant numbers of migrant communities.

Despite the significant numbers of migrant women in Victoria,[i] and the robust contribution they make to Victoria’s economic, social and civil life, substantial areas of inequality, both within and outside of the health system, prevent migrant women from achieving optimum health and wellbeing.

Building back better

An intersectional, feminist recovery plan means that those most impacted by COVID-19, including migrant and refugee women, temporary migrants, older people, and people with disabilities are integrally involved in discussions about policy response and recovery. Such a recovery plan means that organisations and governments are committed to transforming inequitable systems and structures that continue to make people vulnerable. In this way, there is much to learn from Hawai’i’s Feminist Economic Recovery Plan. Rather than ‘rush’ to rebuild the status quo that has produced inequality, this plan encourages a deep structural transition to an economy that places women at the centre, valuing essential caring work and considering social wellbeing as paramount.

In the Victorian context, targeted investment in services and programs that enable migrant women in Victoria to attain their optimum health and wellbeing is critical when it comes to building a COVID-19 response and recovery plan. For migrant women, recovery means being able to participate actively in meaningful, stable, and appropriately valued and remunerated jobs. The industries and forms of employment in which migrant women are concentrated – aged care, manufacturing, hospitality, cleaning, retail should be specifically targeted in support and recovery programs. For example, women who work in industries that have been shut down through the pandemic such as hospitality and retail will need support to re-engage and re-train. Those who have worked through the pandemic in manufacturing, aged care, childcare or health care must be valued as essential service workers. In addition, significant barriers to equitable work, such as gender and race discrimination in employment need to be addressed.

Migrant women are valuable leaders and their leadership will be particularly important during COVID-19 recovery. Migrant women should be included in all levels of consultation, planning, design and decision-making. Leadership programs that are specifically tailored to cater for migrant women’s needs, and that build on migrant women’s existing capabilities, should be developed and delivered. This includes ensuring all women have access to digital technology so as enable them to participate in education and employment opportunities.

COVID-19 has laid bare the health, social and economic inequities between us, but it has also made us see how connected we all are. Recovery must build on those connections, strengthen them and deepen them, constructing the future on a solid foundation.

This analysis has been adapted from a Pre-Budget submission to the Victorian government produced by the Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health. To learn more about how you can support migrant and refugee women, you can read the specific recommendations here.

[i] Migrant women make up 29% of the Victorian female population, numbering 885,061 at the 2016 census. See ABS (2016) The Census of Population and Housing, Australian Government.

This post is part of the Women's Policy Action Tank initiative to analyse government policy using a gendered lens. View our other policy analysis pieces here.

Posted by @DrSophieYates