GCRF Hub Event banner.png

This event was hosted by The Gender, Justice and Security Hub.

The event was held on Zoom on 27 July, 09:00 – 10:30 (BST).

The pandemic continues to expose and deepen inequalities worldwide. From the start, black and brown communities were disproportionally affected and women have born the brunt in terms of gendered violence, caring responsibilities and economic hardship. Governments have led with nationalistic responses and are creating global vaccine apartheid, all while the world’s billionaires accumulate even more riches.

This event brings together researchers from three GCRF Hubs to discuss whether the pandemic can be used as a disruption to the system –  exposing cracks that can be exploited to confront power and inequality – or whether it is business-as-usual, exacerbating inequalities and privileging those with power. The event will showcase some innovative responses to tackling inequalities during COVID from each Hub, as well as exposing where we are consistently held back, even in the face of a pandemic.

The ARISE Hub aims at strengthening accountability mechanisms for improving equitable health and well-being for people living and working in informal urban spaces. The MIDEQ Hub aims to transform understanding of the relationship between migration and inequality in the context of the Global South by decentring the production of knowledge away from the Global North. The Gender, Justice and Security Hub seeks to advance gender justice and inclusive peace in conflict-affected societies.

Speakers

Chair: Dr Kirsten Ainley (@kirstenainley) is Associate Professor of International Relations and the Deputy Principal Investigator of the UKRI GCRF Gender, Justice and Security Hub (@GCRFGenderHub). Her research focuses on international policy and practice in military, legal and development-focused interventions, and the impacts of these interventions.

Dr Anita Ghimire (@AnitaNISER) is a research director at the Nepal Institute for Social and Environmental Research and with the Migration for Development and Equality Hub (@MIDEQHub). Her research focuses on migration and mobility, social norms and gender, adolescents and young people, and social protection in addition to evaluation studies of different interventions. She has worked for multi-year and multi-country research commissioned by DFID, UNICEF, IOM, USAID and World Bank among others.

Dr Faisal Garba (@FaisalGarba8) teaches Sociology at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and is the Co-Convenor of University’s Global Studies Programme and works with the Migration for Development and Equality Hub (@MIDEQHub). His areas of expertise are migration, social change and culture, social movements and sociology of work, globalisation and inequality and historical sociology.

Dr Surekha Garimella (@SGarimella)is a Senior Research Fellow at the George Institute (@GeorgeInstIN), holding a PhD in Public Health, Gender and Work and works with the ARISE Hub (@ARISEHub). She works on gender, women, work and political economy; Gendered health systems and accountability; feminist theory and practice and ethics of research practice.

Dr Josephine Ahikire is Principal, College of Humanities and Social Sciences and former Dean, School of Women and Gender Studies and Co-Director on the UKRI GCRF Gender, Justice and Security Hub (@GCRFGenderHub). She is a Member of Council for Development of Social Research in Africa (CODESRIA). Her research interests are gender and politics, feminist theory and livelihoods and cultural studies.