1st Semester 2021 Gender Ombud Report January to June 2021 I. Continuing Crisis. Continuing Gendered Impact In 2020, the global community dealt with an unprecedented challenge- that of the COVID-19 pandemic. The first few months of 2020 saw the global community shift to a stand-still with quarantines and lockdowns imposed in almost all countries all over the world, including the Philippines. Emergency measures were adopted, and immediate impacts were felt - in the economy, in the strain on the health sector, in the challenge of providing much needed assistance to those most marginalized and affected. By the end of 2020, the global data was staggering - cases rose to 83, 832,334 and 1, 824,590 deaths.1 Data from the past year reveal the devastating impact of the pandemic on the poor and marginalized, it has also highlighted gender differentiated impacts - as seen in the rise of GBV cases, the shift to work from home and online education adding on to multiple burdens and unpaid care, among others. As 2020 closed, and with the start of the vaccine roll out, 2021 started with much hope for a better year. November 2020 social weather station survey revealed that only half of Filipinos surveyed expected a happy Christmas, however 91% were hopeful for the coming year. While looking high, this still fell 5 points below 2019’s 96% hopefuls for 2020.2 Those who considered themselves poor were only 89% hopeful for a better 2021. Having survived two stretches of enhanced community quarantine in 2020 and various other formulations of government imposed containment measures, many Filipinos were hopeful for a better year in 2021. With the start of the global roll out of vaccines by the end of 2020, and the start of vaccination for medical frontliners by early March, Filipinos were expecting a better new normal - a period of healing. The government itself has expressed positive hopes for the year - expressing its target to vaccinate up to 70 million Filipinos by year end and hoping by then to achieve herd immunity.3 Six months passed and yet the crisis continues. Vaccination roll out has been slow in picking up, the National Capital Region was once again forced to impose stricter quarantine measures from end of March to April and faster spreading variants from other countries have made their way into the country. 1 AJMC Staff. A Timeline of COVID-19 Developments in 2020. (2 January 2021) https://www.ajmc.com/view/a-timeline-ofcovid19-developments-in-2020 (Last accessed 28 August 2021) 2 Abad, M. 91%Filipinos entering 2021 ‘hopeful’, lowest since 2009 survey. 25 March 2021. Rappler. https://www.rappler.com/nation/filipinos-entering-2021-hopeful-sws-survey-november-2020 (Last accessed 28 August 2021) 3 Jalea, G. TIMELINE: COVID-19 Deliveries and roll out in the Philippines. 25 March 2021. CNN. https://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2021/3/25/TIMELINE-COVID-19-vaccines-deliveries-rollout-Philippines.html (Last accessed 28 August 2021) 1