Giving Compass' Take:

• “Building Bridges, Not Walking on Backs”  is a Hawaiian recovery plan that advocates for women and marginalized communities to spur economic growth post-COVID. 

• How can donors contribute to state recovery plans? 

• Read more on how COVID-19 response efforts impact women and girls. 

It may be too soon to reopen, but it’s not too early to plan for a recovery. The novel coronavirus pandemic continues to spike in many U.S. states, especially those that lifted lockdown restrictions early, but as of July 6, Hawai‘i had only 72 cases per 100,000 people, the lowest in the nation.

Instead of resting on those laurels, Hawai‘i also has developed the most comprehensive post-pandemic recovery plan, one that includes feminism as a core principle.

Released in April 2020, “Building Bridges, Not Walking on Backs” is a substantial plan that advocates for improving the lives of women to spur a post-pandemic economic recovery.

The plan is intersectional and comprehensive, offering recommendations on everything from rectifying the gender pay gap to using federal loans to bolster critical social services, such as domestic abuse shelters and reproductive health care.

In America, many states are prioritizing reopening and personal freedom over public health and safety—and now reversing those decisions. Few are working towards establishing a new, more equitable post-pandemic normal for vulnerable communities.

Hawai‘i is doing just that. First, the state has taken a comparatively conservative approach to reopening, according to the Los Angeles Times. At the same time, Hawai‘i’s legacy of partnerships across the public, private, and citizen sectors is helping keep the concerns of Native Hawaiians and women front and center of the post-coronavirus planning.

“This is a manifestation of the women’s movement in Hawaiʻi,” said Khara Jabola-Carolus, executive director of the State Commission on the Status of Women about the plan. “I’m an anti-imperialist feminist. I am a transnational feminist, and I’m also a bureaucrat. I get to occupy this space because I had built up a sisterhood around me and that sisterhood existed before me, built by other women.”

Read the full article about Hawaii's women-centered COVID-19 recovery by Chris Winters at YES! Magazine.