To mark the occasion of 8 March as International Women’s Day, this special edition of the COVID-19 Impact on Migrants highlights some of the main challenges and difficulties migrant women and girls have faced amid the pandemic.
It also highlights the grounds for a more gendered approach in response during the health crisis to ensure that policies have women and girls in mind. This includes critical messaging about accessing safe services for sexual health issues and reporting sexual abuse and Gender Based Violence (GBV) and ensuring equitable and quality health care. Additionally, the development of support programs that include reliable childcare, career coaching and mentoring, and mental health support is critical to ensuring the well-being of women, their children and family. This paper is developed as part of IOM’s monitoring of COVID-19 Impact on Migrants, jointly done by several units including the Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC), Migrant in Countries in Crisis (MICIC), Migrant Protection and Assistance (MPA), Resettlement and Movement Management (RMM), and Information, Communication and Technology (ICT).