ParlAmericas supports parliamentarian participation in regional meetings on women’s leadership during COVID-19
This week, ParlAmericas supported the participation of parliamentarians on panels held during two important regional meetings conducted by partner organizations. Both meetings explored the gendered impacts of COVID-19 and the necessity of women’s leadership within responses to the pandemic.
The first of these virtual meetings, “Respond, Restructure, Recover: Women and the COVID-19 Response in the Caribbean,” took place on May 19, 2020. Organized by Caribbean Women in Leadership (CIWiL), the session convened stakeholders from across the Caribbean for a conversation on the specific experiences of women in the region during COVID-19. The Hon. Samantha Marshall (Antigua and Barbuda), M.P. and Minister of Agriculture, offered a parliamentary perspective on the issue, discussing ways in which legislators can contribute to the development of inclusive national responses.
On May 21, 2020, the webinar hosted by the Inter-American Task Force on Women’s Leadership and Women’s Global Health, titled “COVID-19: Why Can Women’s Leadership Make the Difference in the Response? Challenges and Opportunities in the Americas and Caribbean Beyond the Emergency,” brought together women leaders and experts in gender and health from Latin America and the Caribbean. This was a further session supported by ParlAmericas as a founding member of the Task Force. The Hon. Delma Thomas (Grenada), M.P. and Minister of Social Development, Housing, and Community Empowerment, shared her views on women’s political leadership in confronting the COVID-19 crisis, as well as strategies to ensure women are central to future crisis response and recovery efforts.
These meetings created critical spaces for dialogue among government, parliamentary, multilateral, and civil society actors on strategies to ensure that the region’s response to COVID-19 considers the crisis’ differential impacts. They furthermore affirmed the importance of women and other diverse groups being actively involved in the management and implementation of response and recovery actions.
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