Countries that do poorly on women’s inclusion, justice and security are at higher risk during a pandemic, according to new research by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS).
GIWPS and PRIO Centre for Gender, Peace and Security investigated the relationship between women’s well-being and risk factors associated with an overwhelming pandemic, such as the COVID-19 outbreak.
While other research suggests that people who live in countries headed by men are six times more likely to die from COVID-19 than in the few countries run by women, GIWPS went beyond the headlines to look at the status of women more broadly.
“We wanted to look at how women’s status might matter for COVID-19 outcomes, controlling for per capita income, regime type and other factors,” said Jeni Klugman, co-author and GIWPS’ managing director. “Correlation does not signify causation, but it is interesting to see that in countries where women enjoy a higher level of well-being, the government appears to be better equipped to handle epidemics.”
Making Commitments
The research investigated the relationship between women’s well-being – as measured by the Women, Peace, and Security Index (WPS) – and risk factors associated with a COVID-19 outbreak that exceed a nation’s capacity to respond (as captured by the INFORM Epidemic Risk Index).
Haiwen “Bryan” Zou
“I hope this research will induce more leaders and policymakers to commit to women’s inclusion, justice, and security in our society,” said Haiwen “Bryan” Zou (G’20), a student research assistant at GIWPS who co-authored the report and is now working at the International Monetary Fund.
Exploring the Data
The WPS Index incorporates three basic dimensions of women’s well-being – inclusion (economic, social, political); justice (formal laws and informal discrimination) and security (at the family, community, and societal levels).
These dimensions are captured and quantified through 11 indicators, which are then aggregated and scored to create a global ranking of 167 countries.
The INFORM Epidemic Risk Index – an initiative of the European Commission – identifies countries at a high risk of a humanitarian crisis that are more likely to be overwhelmed and require assistance in the event of an epidemic-related disaster.
‘Complex Puzzle’
INFORM is based on risk concepts published in scientific literature and looks at three dimensions of risk – hazards and exposure, vulnerability and lack of coping capacity.
The overall association between the WPS Index and INFORM Epidemic Risk indices revealed a strong negative correlation of -0.86.
“Our findings are clearly just part of a very complex puzzle,” Jeni observed, “but clearly underline the importance of progress to address longer-term issues associated with gender equality beyond the current crisis, so we are better prepared for future challenges.”
