Body Politics in the COVID-19 Era from a Feminist Lens
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Body Politics in the COVID‑19 Era from a Feminist Lens Emilia Reyes1
© Society for International Development 2020
Abstract The premises of the feminist economist tradition from the Global South center their analysis in the wellbeing of people and the planet, under the human rights framework, gender equality and environmental integrity, as cross-cutting principles. The pandemic brought to the surface what the feminist movement has been saying all along, namely that the wellbeing of persons, and the planet they live in, depends on a complex web of elements beyond a limited notion of bodily health. The current capitalistic system has always kindled a tension between life and profits, a game that has undermined human rights of all persons by prioritizing the circulation of merchandises, goods and capitals. That struggle is more acutely felt now with the confinement measures imposed all around the world, and the ensuing impossibility for millions of people in precarious circumstances of respecting the lockdown measures. Women are even more carrying the burden of subsidizing entire economies. The feminist movement is now looking at solutions of solidarity at the crossroad between and within social movements, public policy, local and community resistance, while refusing to go back to a world where women may have to subsidize even more entire economies under recession. Keywords Body politics · Feminist macro-economy · Unpaid domestic and care work · Social disasters · Feminist activism · Global economic solutions
Reading the COVID‑19 Pandemic Through the Gender Lenses The analytical category of gender implies a social construction around the sexual anatomical difference. It highlights the interrelation of two relevant dimensions: the human body and the way humans experience their bodily dimension. Bodies and their processes cannot be detached from their historical and social contexts. Through this analytical category we are able to see the multiple dimensions of a crisis such as the current one. At a time when humanity faces unprecedented risks in relation to its surroundings, and to events that challenge the health of the human body and the wellbeing of human life across the world, we cannot but emphasize the social construction of our realities. A threat to our individual health is also a threat to our collective wellbeing. The reflection regarding our social dynamics demand far more than mere health measures. * Emilia Reyes [email protected] 1
Equidad de Género: Ciudadanía, Trabajo y Familia, Mexico City, Mexico
Individual and bodily health is to be conceived in its social dimension. We speak of public health when life conditions of entire groups are so intertwined that there is no way to think of health measures based on individuals alone. Such measures need to be shaped in accordance to the dynamics of the collective body. In fact, the overarching impact of COVID-19 on every aspect of our lives compel us to even look beyond the single concept of public health. In The Lancet, Richard Hort
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