Coronavirus Pandemic and Women's Lives in Wuhan

Coronavirus Pandemic and Women’s Lives in Wuhan Ritu Agarwal Associate Professor Jawaharlal Nehru University Wuhan: An Important Centre of Women Activism • Wuhan known as tri-city complex of Hankou, Wuchang, and Hanyang is located in the eastern Jianghan plain in central China. • Geographical location close to Shanghai and Nanjing • Important urban site of women’s social and political activism • women's united front (妇女界的联合战线) was promoted by those elite women who migrated to Wuhan from Shanghai and Nanjing • Formation of resistance culture especially during anti-Japanese war • choral singing, drama performances, and various journals and newspapers— Xinhua Ribao (新华日报) • The Hubei Provincial Women's Wartime Service Group (湖北省妇女 战时工作团) established itself in Wuchang, • Hankou branch of the Hubei Provincial Women's Wartime Service Group (湖北省妇女战时工作团汉口分团) also became active in Hankou. Wuhan Central hospital

• WeChat screenshot from the phone of ophthalmologist Li Wenliang • South China Seafood Wholesale Market • Ye Qi , nurse working in this hospital received notice that she was being transferred to the Respiratory Medicine Intensive Care Unit. • She was compelled to wear adult diapers in order to avoid going to the bathroom. • She also grew accustomed to the lingering imprints around her eyes left by the protective goggles she had to wear • more than two hundred Central Hospital employees had the virus, including three vice-presidents and one director of nursing • The entire orthopaedics department had been “wiped out,” and oncology had “lost almost twenty doctors and nurses” Women as Frontline Workers

• The majority of medical staff in China’s hospitals are women • The female nurses not only from Wuhan and also from other cities leaving their families behind turned up in big number to save people from this pandemic. • Nurses like Guo Qin and her colleagues are many who had been exposed to the virus through her work • Nursing assistants, many of who are middle-aged rural migrants, are even more at risk than doctors and registered nurses. Frontline Workers

• Chen Cuilan who had been employed at Wuhan Central Hospital for many years, told Caixin that as soon as she was confirmed with covid- 19 she was forced to leave the ward. • As of Feb. 2, about 3,476 female medical workers from around the country had been dispatched to central China's Hubei Province to assist in combating the epidemic, according to the China Medical Women's Association. • Liu Lu, a nurse at the provincial people's hospital in east China's Jiangxi, had her shoulder-length hair cut. • "Looking good is no longer important at this moment, I must be responsible for the safety of my patients and myself," said the 30- year-old. • Liu is among the 88 women in the first batch of 138 medical staff from Jiangxi to assist Wuhan, according to data from the Jiangxi Provincial Health Committee. second batch of 101 medical workers from Jiangxi to assist Wuhan, 97 are women. Community Workers

• Community work includes daily check -ups of the patients, taking care of old age parents staying alone in the households, delivering supplies to the households like Vegetables and other essential commodities • Xujia- Caiguan Jia • Huang Ping- Teacher • Ding Cao Li the secretary of Xinwuli Community

Sanitation Workers

• In addition to their usual cleaning services, sanitation workers have to empty mask recycling bins, sterilise their vehicles three times a day and spray disinfectant onto the streets • Ms Lian, who is in her mid-60s, is paid 70 yuan a day but explained that she will be fined 150 yuan for each day’s absence. • One sanitation worker, Ms Wu, said she had to walk for more than an hour to get to her cleaning station. • According to statistics, Jan 25-28 heavy work includes garbage collection, cleaning of public toilets road cleaning, trash pickup, a total of 1057 vehicles had picked up and disposed waste . At the same time, the district community service centers and designated hospitals were sterilized and a total of nearly 500 kilograms of discarded masks were disposed of in four days

Women as Caterers and Taxi drivers

• 32-year-old Chen Jing and a group of dedicated caterers and delivery drivers have been working around the clock to provide free meals to medical staff in Wuhan. • Chen had planned to return to her hometown in Shaanxi for the Lunar New Year holiday but, like millions of others, she was trapped when the city was quarantined on 23 January • coronavirus outbreak has placed extraordinary demands on Wuhan’s delivery workers, taxi drivers, sanitation and community workers, • They also help keep local communities supplied with daily necessities buying food and medicine for those who cannot go out.

Gender gaps in Employment

• Employment rate of Chinese women was nearly 70 percent mainly • in agriculture, • hotel and catering • wholesale and retail industries. • farming and livestock farming, • labor-intensive industries (such as domestic workers and cultural entertainment)

• Females were more likely to work as • professional and technical staff, • as staff in commerce and service areas and • as industrial workers in urban areas in China • males were more likely than females to work as managers, party and government officials and administrative staff • the highest female-oriented jobs in China seems to be pre-school teachers (100 percent female), nurses (97 percent female), nursemaids and servants (93 percent female), street cleaners (86 percent female) • Beijing, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- jiang Lin The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security has released a list of the 100 "most underemployed" jobs in China in the third quarter of 2020. Among them, sales staff, cleaners, restaurant waiters, security guards, merchandise workers, housekeeping attendants, customer service personnel, real estate brokers, delivery workers, car workers and other occupations are in the top 10 "most underemployed" occupations. Aunty Xiong