Categorising the Gendered Harms to Caregivers During Humanitarian Emergencies: An Analysis of Law and Practice During Ebola Crises

Abstract

Recent global health emergencies have highlighted the critical role of health care workers in stemming the spread of pandemics. Healthcare workers provide an essential service to local communities impacted by epidemics such as Ebola. Global health scholars suggest that carers may suffer harm while performing this essential work. Building on feminist theories of ‘harm’ and ‘social reproduction’, this article uses as case studies the early 21st century Ebola epidemics that broke out in West Africa and the DRC to ask how do women carers in humanitarian crises experience harm? The article illustrates the hierarchical and gendered nature of harm, and how those at the bottom of social hierarchies face intersectional harms stemming from their race, class and economic status. The article highlights an urgent need to rethink how law at both the domestic and international levels has contributed to the reproduction of inequalities faced by these carers.