CES (com)vida 2020

Feminist Solidarity for a Collective Response to COVID-19

Bridget Burns

Emilia Reyes

WEDO | Women’s Environment & Development Organization

Overview

In this article Emilia Reyes and Bridget Burns seek to present the factors behind the creation of an electronic database that serves as a repository of feminist initiatives and principles around COVID-19. For the authors, the collective and solidarity action demanded by the COVID-19 crisis is nothing new for feminist associations and movements, especially in a situation that exacerbates inequalities and, intersectionally, the exploitation and domination of women around the world.

The current pandemic requires concerted, global action, and the initiative reported here points to five lines of reflection on feminism and COVID-19:
- this is a profoundly personal crisis incarnated in the bodies that suffer;
- this moment demands a reassessment of the notion of care;
- the crisis is intimately intertwined with migration and migratory justice;
- the impact on the realization of sexual and reproductive health and rights policies will be devastating;
- this pandemic requires solutions that fit into the context of global justice.

The authors also define the principles of a feminist response to COVID-19, highlighting the fundamental role of global solidarity.