The Covid inquiry has heard allegations of a “toxic culture” in Downing Street, resulting in the exclusion and neglect of women’s voice and gender diversity, ultimately impairing decision-making during the pandemic that may have led to more preventable deaths in women.
Helen MacNamara, the deputy Cabinet secretary during the early stages of the pandemic, struggled to have her concerns related to women acknowledged within the government.
An email presented to the inquiry outlined the consequences of poor gender diversity, particularly in addressing domestic abuse issues during the first lockdown. Ms MacNamara's statement emphasised the detrimental impact on decision-making and suggested that women may have lost their lives due to these shortcomings.
In a written statement presented to the independent public inquiry into the UK government's handling of the pandemic, she underscored that the "exclusion of a female perspective resulted in significant negative consequences." She specifically highlighted a lack of consideration for issues affecting domestic abuse victims, pregnant women, and childcare challenges during school closures.
The conclusions drawn from this inquiry are not expected soon, but one doesn’t particularly need it to determine the ignorance of the need of women during the pandemic. Be it prenatal and child care or aiding the victims of domestic violence, the government truly felt short. The enforcement of strict rules for hospital visits, the isolation of women during vulnerable periods, and compelling women to share confined spaces with their abusers while being subjected to motivational speeches by those in power did not help. Boris Johnson is due to appear this week in front of the inquiry, and expected to apologise, though it is reported that he strongly believes the government did its best to protect lives.
Domestic violence victims left in suffering
During the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) data reveals a concerning surge in domestic abuse. Between April and June 2020, helplines logged a total of 40,397 calls and contacts, marking a significant 65% increase compared to the preceding three months. Police records indicated 259,324 domestic abuse-related offences (excluding fraud) from March to June 2020, representing a 7% rise from the same period in 2019 and an 18% increase from 2018. While the government hasn’t been that effective in combatting the issue of domestic violence ever, the pandemic really saw a downward spiral.
During a three-week period of coronavirus lockdown in Britain, nearly three times as many women were killed by men compared to the average for the same period over the last decade. This alarming statistic is based on data compiled by monitoring and advocacy groups.
Pregnant and anxious, left alone
When it comes to prenatal care and childbirth, the Johnson government had better guidelines in place for football and parties. Expecting mothers could not have their partners tag along for routine tests and have them present during childbirthafter following a plethora of guidelines.
Asian Voice spoke to a London-based producer, presenter and chef (now in Mumbai), Shrimoyee Chakraborty in 2020. She was pregnant at that time.
She told our team that her NHS experience had been distressing and she couldn’t really blame the organisation for it as it was up to the government to acknowledge the NHS staff shortages and underfunding.
When she was 14 weeks pregnant, when Shrimoyee suddenly started bleeding. “I went to the hospital at 10 PM and because of bureaucratic nonsense, they kept pushing me from one ward to the other. They kept saying that we’ll only see you at fourteen weeks and I was 13 weeks 4 days pregnant. They pushed me around for two hours till I had to fight to be seen by a doctor. I said I’m not leaving till you tell me if the baby is alive or not. For me, the whole experience with the NHS has been pretty traumatic, to say the least,” she explained. She had gone alone for almost every scan in her pregnancy.
Priti Patel, the then Home Secretary of the UK had launched a helpline and various other measures to aid women facing domestic abuse during the pandemic to help them escape their abusers. She also put guidelines in place to remove abusers from homes rather than having the victims flee. However, these guidelines were clearly not enough and the Borris Johnson government could have done so much better with better planning.
