EU, US, and NZ Leaders: How pandemic’s influence on women’s rights?

World: On the prestigious occasion of International Women’s Day, three prominent women of the world, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, US Vice President Kamala Harris, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, expressed their views in the European Parliament.

These women are not just leaders but an inspiration for several young girls. They have addressed the topic of how the coronavirus pandemic impacted women’s rights.

All of them recommended that the global pandemic’s economic and political byproduct had whetted women’s challenges as now they demand equal rights.

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern stated, “COVID-19 has ravaged our health systems, our economies, our livelihoods.” 

“But it has also heightened structural inequalities that disproportionately influence women and girls. Women are at the forefront of fighting the coronavirus crisis, ” she added.

Furthermore, Ardern stated, “amongst the doctors, nurses, scientists, communicators, caregivers and frontliners and essential workers who suffer the devastations and difficulties of this virus every day.”

Domestic violence on women has been exacerbated in this global pandemic worldwide; domestic violence cases have been observed in every country. On the other hand, clashes turn to make women suffer more.

Additionally, in her statement, Vice President Kamla Harris stated that quarantine duration had heightened the risk of violence against women.

“Coronavirus has terrorized the health, the economic security, and the physical security of women universally,” stated by Vice President Kamla Harris via a video.

Harris added, “At the same time, women constitute 70 percent of the global health workforce, putting them on the front lines and at danger of contracting the virus; Time in isolation has also heightened the risk of gender-based brutality while interfering with services for descendants of domestic violence.”

Von der Leyen, the first woman to direct the EU’s executive branch, promoted her proposal to propose a pay transparency directive to push European organizations to close the “gender pay gap.“

She stated, “It is built on two simple systems: equal work deserves equal pay, and for fair pay, you need transparency.”

“And women must know whether their organizations treat them fairly. And when this is not the problem, they must have the power to fight back and get what they deserve.”

Von der Leyen stated that women were paid 14 percent less than men and that only 67 percent of women were employed than 78 percent of men. EU Chief demanded, “We have to eliminate the obstructions on the path towards fairness. We have to endeavor for equal opportunities.”

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