Senators want pandemic, disaster protocols that meet needs of women and girls

by Bella Perez-Rubio, 1 Sep 2021

MANILA, Philippines — Women and girls bear the brunt of pandemics and disasters, a situation that a bill filed this week at the Senate hopes to address.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros, who chairs the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, on Wednesday sponsored Senate Bill No. 2732, or the proposed Gender-Responsive and Inclusive Pandemic and Disaster Management Act.

All the other women in the Senate — Sens. Nancy Binay, Pia Cayetano, Leila De Lima, Imee Marcos, Grace Poe, and Cynthia Villar — are co-authors of the proposed measure. Also listed as co-authors are are Sens. Sonny Angara and Christopher Go.

“[W]omen are affected more than men by the social and economic effects of infectious-disease outbreaks,” Hontiveros said in her sponsorship speech, citing a study published in Nature, a multidisciplinary science journal. “We bear the brunt of care responsibilities as schools close and family members fall ill.”

“They are at greater risk of domestic violence and are disproportionately disadvantaged by reduced access to sexual and reproductive health services,” she added.

“Because women are more likely than men to have fewer hours of employed work and be on insecure or zero-hour contracts, we are more affected by job losses in times of economic instability.”

Hontiveros highlighted the following as key provisions of the proposed measure:

mandating that gender-based violence services, especially temporary shelters, remain functional and accessible notwithstanding emergencies, pandemics, and disasters, and that mechanisms for the processing and issuance of protection orders under the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act remain operative

providing for the specific health needs of women inside quarantine facilities

requiring agencies to craft protocols for alternative work arrangements that take into account the gender-differentiated needs of female employees

ensuring the continuity and availability of ante and post-natal care and services during lockdowns as well as prompt access of pregnant women to the same, with corresponding precautions to protect them from risks

prioritizing gender alongside disability, age and other overlapping vulnerabilities in the assessment of needs and decisions on targeting

institutionalizing protections for female migrant workers in situations of distress and female locally-stranded individuals

mandating the creation of a Gender-Responsive National Preparedness and Response Plan to be integrated into the national strategy to manage the pandemic or disaster, and cascaded to the local government units to guide local efforts

“COVID-19 has caused our country and our world so much pain,” the senator said in Filipino.

“But if there is one good thing that can come out of it, it is perhaps the opportunity to cast a light on the existing inequities that cleave society and from this, chart a better course forward. And in this better course forward, women and girls are not left behind.” —