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Here's why it really matters that we are not hearing or seeing women's voices from the UK government right now.
I read somewhere - I can't find it now - an American study showing that early on, women were FAR more worried about coronavirus than men (like, 51% women were ‘very worried’ vs 21% men). This makes total sense because…
Our experience of a pandemic is HIGHLY gendered. Women tend to be the carers -- they're generally in charge of the health of the whole family, much more likely to end up caring for older people, more aware of vaccination schedules, take other people to the GP far more, etc etc.
It seems plausible that women are more likely to listen to external experts early on, as well. I don't have stats for that, just my life experience.
Although few people would have predicted an actual lockdown, its effects have also turned out to be totally gendered. Women are far more likely to be looking after children, homeschooling while 'working', sacrificing their careers for the household’s greater good, etc. etc.
(Ironically, in terms of direct health effects, men suffer more from coronavirus than women – so would have been justified in being more concerned in the first place about their own health.)
Meanwhile, women leaders around the world are managing incredibly well throughout this pandemic. Jacinda Ardern in New Zealand locked down hard early on and is leading with incredible empathy; I do not think it is co-incidence that she is a woman and a new mother.
Women leaders in Taiwan, Germany, San Francisco, also leading their territories incredibly well. It makes sense to me that the gender that was more worried and listened earlier on, would also act more quickly and decisively, with better results
The UK Government is currently trying to figure out an incredibly tricky balance of healthcare vs economy. Both of these are highly gendered, and so absolutely should not be done by men alone.
In summary -- women and men anticipate and experience this pandemic totally differently, and therefore we NEED both perspectives represented at the highest levels.
