COVID-19 is exposing women to greater health risks, threatening livelihoods, exacerbating gender-based violence and pushing women and children into extreme poverty, particularly those living in the most marginalised communities, said Columbia University Medical Centre Public Psychiatry Education Director Stephanie M.Le Melle here on Saturday. She was delivering the keynote address in a global workshop on ‘Stress Coping: Strategies to De-stress’ organised by GITAM Deemed to be University. While referring to various recent COVID-19 studies, she said that globally 54 % women lost their jobs during the pandemic. In India and USA, the job loss rate is 5.7% in women and 3.1% in men.
GITAM president M. Sribharath said that the pandemic caused psychological pressure on students and academic community.
Gomathi Jatin from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Gandhian Studies Director Nalini Bikkina and others spoke.