5.1 Policy Priority 1: Addressing the Socio-economic Impacts of COVID19

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“Addressing the Socio-Economic Impact of COVID-19” is being addressed by, inter alia, recommending (i) gender to be mainstreamed into any forthcoming socio-economic impact assessment (SEIA). At present, the Country Office has already advised on engendering the Terms of Reference of the forthcoming SEIA to capture the gendered impact of COVID-19 of different cohorts of women, and propose recommendations accordingly with a view to ensuring that women’s needs are taken into account in developmental strategies; and (ii) programmes for women’s economic recovery, including women in the informal sector and looking at the changing structures of work.

These policy options are not a comprehensive list. Whilst each policy option is likely to require trade-offs with factors such as budgetary impact and work incentives, they should be viewed as a roadmap on of how gender-specific challenges posed by the COVID-19 crisis may be addressed. Short-Medium- and Longer-term plans formulated should be cognizant of the differentiated impacts on women and men, in the light of their gendered roles and needs.

Policy Priority 1:

Addressing the socio-economic impacts of COVID19

1.a

Collect data on the status of women post COVID-19 to enable a comparison with the pre-COVID-19 baseline to provide an analysis of the impact of the pandemic in different sectors. This exercise may be mainstreamed in Studies relating to impact assessments of the pandemic. Carrying out a gender sensitive socio-economic impact assessment (SEIA) in the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors as well as migrant workers is also amongst the first step in understanding the impacts of the pandemic on women and men 46 from an intersectional approach. Special attention needs to be extended to the tertiary sector which employs a higher percentage of women. The Study should also look at intra-household gendered dynamics at the household level during confinement.

The category “Women” is not a homogeneous group, is not a homogenous group, but also represents elderly women, women with disabilities, younger women,

46 UNDP Mauritius is cognizant of the need for up to date data for a more concise analysis of the situation post-COVID19. Pre

COVID data provides an overview of the situation “as was” and provides an insight on the status of women at that point of time, hence, the need to have current data for a truly evidence based perspective.