Violence against women is potentially a greater pandemic than COVID-19 because it is killing women every day and has done so for ages, said Women for Women International vice-president Brita Fernandez Schmidt as the virus continues to spread one year on.

Universally, women – from Afghanistan to London to Malta – have suffered disproportionately during COVID-19, which has laid bare the devastating impact of inequalities and magnified them. 

“In times of crisis, existing inequalities come to light more starkly. It is not that they did not exist before, but that we got used to them,” Fernandez Schmidt maintained.  “How many more crises do we have to go through to understand that gender inequality is killing people,” she asked, pointing out that if the world put the same emphasis on stopping violence against women as it did on COVID-19, its hefty burden on the State would also be reduced.

Fernandez Schmidt was addressing an online talk, hosted by Pink magazine and Gracy’s, ahead of International Women’s Day, where she spoke to participants about: Bouncing back from COVID-19: Celebrating women in a post-pandemic world.

The Times of Malta event, sponsored by Gracy’s in Valletta, gathered women from Malta and overseas, bringing the author of the newly released book, Fears to Fierce: A Woman's Guide to Owning Her Power, into their homes.

The blurring of distinction between home and work has had a major impact on women and the burden of unpaid childcare ended up on their shoulders again, in turn, creating worries about job losses and drops in earnings. 

Even locally, a recent study has shown that COVID-19 meant more chores for women, widening gender inequality. 

The world is noticing, for example, how dependent it is on care workers – and that a disproportionate number of these are women, Fernandez Schmidt said. 

Inequality around race also shot up, but now, everyone is aware of it and cannot turn a blind eye, she insisted, pointing out that the pandemic also put the rise in violence against women into the spotlight.

“Who was surprised about this? I was not,” said Fernandez Schmidt, insisting it should be a wake-up call for measures to address the problem, with a focus on education and changing gender stereotypes from an early age. 

Just another crisis

Since 1993, Women for Women International has invested in practical and moral support for over 500,000 forgotten female survivors of war, teaching them the skills to rebuild their families and communities. Now, they have had to survive COVID-19 too.

Fernandez Schmidt was struck by the fact that, for her colleagues in northern Iraq, for example, where ISIS is still active and they are used to a high level of uncertainty, the pandemic was “just another crisis”. 

Nevertheless, it still had a significant impact, albeit more economic than a health catastrophe.

“Living below the extreme poverty threshold, the women we serve earn their daily bread by selling their produce at the market. Being unable to leave home has meant no income. And they have no safety nets.”

Hygiene remains a key pillar for the NGO, the overarching idea being that “if women are not well, they cannot use the skills we teach them to earn money and improve their livelihoods,” she explained.

This cause gained momentum in 2020, with almost 5,000 hygiene kits distributed in Afghanistan alone.

Having to stay home also meant important programmes, which united women to break the isolation that conflict brings, could no longer be offered.

COVID-19, in fact, instigated a sort of “re-traumatisation” because lockdown reminded them of the hardship they experienced even as far back as the Bosnia War over 25 years ago. 

Embracing change, funds were diverted from the usual programmes into phone SIM cards in Rwanda, for example, opening up communication lines with women who needed health information, allowing them to receive their stipends and, more importantly, connect with each other. 

This was key to fighting re-traumatisation and losing all hope, Fernandez Schmidt said, acknowledging the importance of staying in touch. 

Bouncing back 

The “eternal optimist” – who has seen women experience unspeakable atrocities and still find hope and resources within to rebuild their lives and change their communities – has refused to let the pandemic stop Women for Women International in its tracks.

At the onset, she expected the humanitarian organisation not to achieve its 2020 targets, but she was proven wrong. 

“We innovated many of our programmes and realised we could actually do more with less,” the UK executive director said, advising to “focus on what you can do and not what you cannot”.

Fernandez Schmidt has also focused on the “wonderful ripple effect” of women sharing their access to information, knowledge and resources with their community.

Solidarity is another driving force for Women for Women International, manifested in its Sponsor a Sister programme to help change a life – an initiative that highlights the power of personal connection.

“Yes, I see women caged by fear and buying into the scarcity narrative, which makes them feel that if they want to do well, they need to go it alone. But I also see women choosing solidarity and sisterhood over individualistic profit every day.”

Where to from here? 

Fernandez Schmidt is a firm believer that “it is often the hardest moments that deliver the greatest gifts because they allow us to stop and realise that we are always stronger than we think.

“Everyone has had to deal with a huge degree of change overnight that caused high levels of anxiety. But with enormous traumatic changes comes also an opportunity.

“Mental health is a major concern right now and we must ask for help if we need it. But with a safe space, we can use this opportunity to grow and ask ourselves what we want to do with the rest of our life.”

Referring to the subject of her book, she said: “We all have a yearning to do more, but fear holds us back. Surviving the crisis means we can do more.

“Uncertainty around COVID-19 has increased our fears and it is a good moment to think about what would happen if they were left aside and we challenged ourselves to do something we would not normally do.”

In line with IWD’s #choosetochallenge campaign, calling out inequality to help forge an inclusive world, she asked: “What are you doing to challenge yourself?”

Speaking from experience, “if we instead tap into our fierce and own our power, then we leave an impact and others are inspired.

“You would be surprised at what you find if you go where the fear is.”

Watch the full talk here.