The International Rescue Committee and CARE analyzed the specific risks facing women and girls during this pandemic. As the IRC’s senior director for gender equality, Kristin Kim Bart spoke with Bustle from Washington D.C. about how the outbreak is affecting vulnerable communities in places such as Greece, Syria, and Bangladesh.
“The violence women face during humanitarian disasters is often [from] their own home and family,” Bart says. Sixteen years later, the coronavirus pandemic proves no exception. Additionally, women are more likely to be caregivers, and make up a large portion of the health care industry worldwide. Roughly 84% of nurses and midwives around the world are women. Paired together, the virus could be disastrous to refugee camps, especially to the women within them.