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Deepening Vulnerabilities: COVID-19’s Effect On Women in Egypt

June 30, 2020
Egyptian women board a car at the Shohadaa (Martyrs) metro station in Cairo. Credit: Heba Elkholy/ AP

Unforeseen and devastating, the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the lives of all. But while many are describing it as an equalizer, a threat to everyone in equal measure, data from around the world increasingly shows that COVID-19 has affected the vulnerable disproportionately. This has manifested itself in a variety of ways. In the United States, for instance, communities of colour, though a smaller percentage within the population, have faced higher proportions of infection and fatalities than White communities.  In Egypt, little data is available on how the pandemic and the subsequent economic crisis have affected each social group differently, but lack of access to quality healthcare, affordable medicine and education, as well as a lack of ability to social distance have undoubtedly placed some people at a disadvantage.  In many, if not most, cultures, women find themselves socially and economically vulnerable, and this has meant that they, too, have been among the groups whose lives have been heavily impacted by the pandemic. In a number of countries, rising numbers of domestic violence cases and calls to domestic violence helplines have been recorded, often attributed to tensions of confinement and financial…


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