Joint Statement of the UN in Mongolia on the occasion of International Women’s Day

8 March 2021

Women stand at the frontlines of the COVID-19 crisis in Mongolia. Women are healthcare workers, caregivers and teachers, food producers, social workers and civil servants. 

In Mongolia, women make up 82 per cent of all healthcare workers, and every day, they risk their own health to care for those affected by the virus. This is why for International Women’s Day 2021, the UN aims to recognize the significant efforts made by women and girls during the pandemic with the theme “Women in Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in a COVID-19 World”.

Yet, as we pay tribute to their tremendous efforts in COVID-19 response and recovery, we must acknowledge that women and girls continue to bear the brunt of the negative impacts of the pandemic. COVID-19 and the measures put in place to control its spread have worsened the already deep inequalities that women and girls face, undoing years of progress made toward gender equality.

Women are more likely to work in sectors facing the most difficulties during the pandemic. Micro, small and medium enterprises, which are largely dominated by women, are struggling the most to survive unparalleled disruptions. Unemployment rate is higher among women than men mainly due to the unpaid care work that has increased exponentially due to extended school closures and lockdowns. This added responsibility interferes with their work, their education, and their self-care and personal development during the already challenging past year.

Women are the backbone of agriculture, guardians of household food security and are responsible for much of the food production. In Mongolia, herder women also have a vital role in managing the herding businesses and keeping the traditional livestock practices. Yet women, especially in rural areas face greater constraints than men in accessing productive resources, services, technologies, and financial assets, which makes them more vulnerable to the socio-economic effects of COVID-19.

Lockdowns and quarantines have made access to social and medical services far more challenging, especially for pregnant women and women with disabilities. Maternal mortality increased by 28 per cent during this period, with at least 5 cases directly linked to pandemic-related risks and concerns.

Gender-based violence – including domestic violence, violence against children, human trafficking, and sexual exploitation – also spiked throughout the pandemic. In fact, for the first time in years, the country saw a 16 per cent increase in the number of serious cases of domestic violence, a statistic that had previously been steadily declining over time.

These harsh realities are felt even more by already vulnerable groups, such as people with disabilities, the elderly, herders and other migrants, and people living in poverty. 

Throughout the world, we witnessed the power of women’s leadership in COVID-19 response and recovery. Countries with women at the helm have shown great success in achieving lower transmission rates while protecting the socioeconomic wellbeing of their people. Experience has also shown that good governance, democracy, peace, and development all require inclusive leadership and representation to be effective and long-lasting.

Yet stark gender imbalances remain in decision-making processes in the country. Women only hold 13 seats (17 per cent) in Parliament, and despite representing the majority of healthcare workers, only 3 of the 26 members (12 per cent) of the State Emergency Commission are women. 

As the country responds to and recovers from the devastating effects of the pandemic, we are offered a valuable opportunity to bring about gender equality, especially for women’s leadership.

The UN thus urges the government, the business sector, civil society, and other institutions to act now in dismantling the structural barriers and changing the deeply-rooted discriminatory norms that hinder women from fully participating in public life, in the economy, in decision making. We can achieve this by ensuring equal representation through special measures and quotas; by empowering women to take full part in the economy through access to the labor market as well as targeted investments and other financial support; by giving them equal access to productive resources and opportunities; by creating a society where women and girls can live without fear of violence through funding, policies, and political will to end all forms of gender-based violence in public and private spaces; and finally, by working at the grassroots level to change mindsets and social norms to espouse more gender equitable values.

As we collectively work to make gender equality a reality, we must also ensure that critical and lifesaving support to women and girls is continuously given to address the problems of today so that they are are active participants, contributors, and decision-makers in Mongolia’s development.

It is time to create an equal Mongolian society. Together, we can all build forward Mongolia better.