(Image source: Webmd, https://www.webmd.com/lung/what-is-a-pandemic#1)
In an ongoing global pandemic, the interconnectedness of our world is more apparent than ever before, from the movement of, the responses to, and to the consequences of the virus. Scientists have long warned of increased pandemics in the wake of global climate change. Covid19, the latest in this series, is not only taking a massive human toll, it is also laying bare the deeply disturbing inequalities of our society. Many of the medical and economic problems arising in its wake are undeniably political, and definitely personal.
Due to the Covid19 crisis, my surgery scheduled for March 26th was postponed indefinitely. My stream-of-consciousness monologue shows some of the ongoing emotional work in preparation for the surgery. Not to mention the frantic work on various deadlines to make space for the 6-8 weeks of recovery time required for the surgery.
Undoubtedly, women will not only bear a higher burden of Covid19 disruptions as parents and caregivers, but also the disproportionate burden of other hidden costs, like the skyrocketing rates of domestic violence around the world. From my own experience, there is another unexpected cost – essential but non-emergency health support, especially in a medical system that is already biased against women and minimizes women’s pain. So right now, I am managing with the help of painkillers, carrying on with a very heavy workload, and dreading the periodic escalation of pain.
Sometimes I feel sorry for myself, but not for long. I work from home. I have a supportive spouse, dependable friends and family, good healthcare providers despite the delay, and good health despite the pain. As I participate in online meetings, zoom get-togethers, home cooking/baking projects, and continue to work really long hours, I am very aware of my privileges and the injustices of deep inequalities for millions of people around the world. Due to this pandemic, people have lost loved ones, their health, their jobs, their freedoms, and the crisis is still unfolding. The conditions created by Covid19 are much more than an inconvenience to those who have no financial security, social supports, and even worse – no home or running water.
My best hope at this point is, given its global reach, the novel coronavirus may lead to a turning point in human history. After all pandemics are known to create conditions of fundamental shifts in all realms of social and economic organization. It is too early to say though if the current trajectory will lead to compassionate collectivism rather than hyper-individualism driven by unbridled capitalism. Or if the current responses to the Covid19 crisis will lead to further concentration of power ensured by the unchecked rise of surveillance combined with diminished democracy?
In a thought provoking piece, Bruno Latour predicts two possibilities as consequences of the coronavirus crisis. It is an opportunity for the uber-wealthy to increase their already mammoth profit margins. Concurrently, it provides us, the ordinary citizens, an opportunity to contest production itself by asking ourselves: “what we are attached to; what we are ready to give up; the chains we are ready to reconstruct and those that, in our behaviour, we have decided to interrupt.”
Whatever the outcome of this pandemic, I am only sure of one thing, as in any large-scale societal change, women will bear a disproportionate burden as victims and agents of the unfolding modifications to the world as we know it. I am fervently hoping that the looming historical turning point will tilt toward a more just, egalitarian, sustainable future for all.
At this point though, I will not hazard any guesses about when and how this phase will end, for our human collective, or for my poor painful uterus.
Meenal (April 11, 2020)
References
Campanella, E. (2020). The Invisible Killers. Project Syndicate. https://www.project-syndicate.org/onpoint/the-invisible-killers-by-edoardo-campanella-2020.
Cho, R. (2014). How Climate Change Is Exacerbating the Spread of Disease. State of the Planet. Earth Institute, Columbia University. https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2014/09/04/how-climate-change-is-exacerbating-the-spread-of-disease/
Giroux, H.A. (2020). The COVID-19 Pandemic Is Exposing the Plague of Neoliberalism. Truthout. https://truthout.org/articles/the-covid-19-pandemic-is-exposing-the-plague-of-neoliberalism/
Gross, T. (2018). How ‘Bad Medicine’ Dismisses And Misdiagnoses Women’s Symptoms. Shots: Health News from NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/03/27/597159133/how-bad-medicine-dismisses-and-misdiagnoses-womens-symptoms
Hoffman, D.E. and Tarzian, A.J (2001). The Girl Who Cried Pain: A Bias Against Women in the Treatment of Pain. The Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics 28.s4: 13-27. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1748-720X.2001.tb00037.x
Illing, S. (2018). A history of happiness explains why capitalism makes us feel empty inside. Vox. https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/9/4/17759590/happiness-fantasy-capitalism-culture-carl-cederstrom
Jennissen, T. (2019). Review of Compassion: A Global History of Social Policy by Alvin Finkel. Canadian Dimension. https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/compassion-as-social-policy
Latour, B. (2020). What protective measures can you think of so we don’t go back to the pre-crisis production model? Versopolis. https://www.versopolis.com/times/opinion/846/what-protective-measures-can-you-think-of-so-we-don-t-go-back-to-the-pre-crisis-production-model
Mahler, D.G. et al. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) on global poverty: Why Sub-Saharan Africa might be the region hardest hit. World Bank Blogs. https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/impact-covid-19-coronavirus-global-poverty-why-sub-saharan-africa-might-be-region-hardest
Maza, C. (2020). Authoritarian leaders are using the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to lock up dissenters and grab power, human rights experts warn. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/authoritarian-regimes-using-pandemic-as-a-power-grab-2020-4
Repucci, S. (2020). Democracy and pluralism are under assault. Freedom House. https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2020/leaderless-struggle-democracy
Sonnemaker, T. (2020). Jeff Bezos is on track to become a trillionaire by 2026 — despite an economy-killing pandemic and losing $38 billion in his recent divorce. https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-on-track-to-become-trillionaire-by-2026-2020-5
Taub, A. (2020). A New Covid-19 Crisis: Domestic Abuse Rises Worldwide. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/world/coronavirus-domestic-violence.html
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