Hawai鈥榠鈥檚 Post-COVID Recovery Plan Puts Women First
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It may be too soon to reopen, but it鈥檚 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鈥榠 had only , the lowest in the nation.
Instead of resting on those laurels, Hawai鈥榠 also has developed the most comprehensive post-pandemic recovery plan, one that includes feminism as a core principle.
Released in April 2020, 鈥溾�� is a substantial plan that advocates for improving the lives of women to spur a post-pandemic economic recovery.
This is a manifestation of the women鈥檚 movement in Hawai驶i.
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.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 really important and pretty exciting,鈥� says Noelani Goodyear-Ka鈥樑峱ua, a professor of Native Hawaiian politics and Indigenous feminism at the University of Hawai鈥榠 at M膩noa. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know of any other feminist-centered plans for recovery that have been put out anywhere. Not just in Hawai鈥榠, but in other parts of the world.鈥�
In America, many states are prioritizing reopening and personal freedom over public health and safety鈥攁nd now reversing those decisions. Few are working towards establishing a new, more equitable post-pandemic normal for vulnerable communities.
Hawai鈥榠 is doing just that. First, the state has taken a comparatively conservative approach to reopening, according to the .
As in many colonized nations, the repercussions of colonialism in Hawai鈥榠 extend to the present.
At the same time, Hawai鈥榠鈥檚 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.
鈥淭his is a manifestation of the women鈥檚 movement in Hawai驶i,鈥� said Khara Jabola-Carolus, executive director of the about the plan. 鈥淚鈥檓 an anti-imperialist feminist. I am a transnational feminist, and I鈥檓 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.鈥�
The commission was organized in 1964 and, bucking the norm of public agencies having antagonistic relationships with activists, has routinely interacted with grassroots organizations such as the local chapter of , a group that was involved in shaping the recovery plan. Two activist groups, the Micronesian Women鈥檚 Taskforce and Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies, also contributed to the project among other experts.
鈥淭hey restarted the women鈥檚 movement in Hawai鈥榠,鈥� Jabola-Carolus says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really unique because it鈥檚 Native and immigrant women in one organization together working across political tensions and working through intersections. You don鈥檛 often see that.鈥�
She intentionally invited people outside of professional advocacy, especially those whose working status or educational attainment traditionally keeps them from engaging in policy formation and implementation.
United under the moniker 鈥淗awai鈥榠 Feminist COVID-19 Response Team,鈥� and functionally a part of the state commission, the group swelled to about 40 members and is still recruiting.
The team edited the document collaboratively, a way to 鈥渟ee democracy in real time and have people weigh in,鈥� Jabola-Carolus says.
The document reflects this multiplicity of voices. For example, it suggests leaning into 鈥渟ubsistence living and the perpetuation of land- and sea-based practices traditional to Hawai鈥榠鈥檚 ecological and food system鈥� to catalyze economic growth, as opposed to tourism, which, according to the plan, offers only low-wage jobs, is linked to rights abuses and contributes to environmental degradation.
This moment really forces a conversation about how to diversify Hawai鈥榠鈥檚 economy away from tourism and the military.
The recovery plan also has provisions for commercial sex workers, members of the LGBTQ community, and caregivers, groups whose already-precarious social and financial situations have been exacerbated by the virus.
鈥淎 lot of women … are seeing themselves as an oppressed class right now that didn鈥檛 before,鈥� Jabola-Carolus says. 鈥淲omanhood is a caste. Being femme or nonbinary and having all these extra duties is personally and structurally oppressive.鈥�
As in many colonized nations, the repercussions of colonialism in Hawai鈥榠鈥攚hich culminated with an 1893 coup backed by U.S. and European business interests that overthrew Queen Lili鈥榰okalani鈥攅xtend to the present.
鈥淭here is a lot of tension,鈥� Jabola-Carolus says. 鈥淗awai鈥榠 is a settler-colonial state… it鈥檚 just a constant battle to make sure our communities are not erased.鈥�
Colonial involvement led to the economy becoming , first the exporting of sandalwood and sugar, then in the post-war era, tourism, and the U.S. military.
Rethinking equity in Hawai鈥榠 is also timely in the context of worldwide George Floyd protests and subsequent demands to reform the police.
Before the COVID pandemic, tourism accounted for of the state鈥檚 gross domestic product, while the 鈥渄efense economy鈥� represents , about 8% of GDP. Both industries are problematic in and of themselves; so is relying so heavily on just two revenue streams, the writers of the recovery plan argue.
鈥淸T]his moment really forces a conversation about how to diversify Hawai鈥榠鈥檚 economy away from tourism and the military [which have been] dominant to the point of really kind of choking out other aspects of the economy here,鈥� Goodyear-Ka鈥樑峱ua says. 鈥淸B]oth industries have incredibly patriarchal and exploitative and violent aspects…鈥�
Indigenous Hawaiians have of all of Hawai鈥榠鈥檚 five largest ethnic groups. And an estimated 15,000 people are homeless in Hawai鈥榠, the highest per capita rate in the country.
鈥淸I]n places like Hawai鈥榠, [the virus is] exacerbating what was already deep inequity,鈥� says Kealoha Fox, a Native Hawaiian clinical psychologist and member of the recovery team. 鈥淗awai驶i has this stereotype… that we are the best state to retire [to], we are the healthiest state in the country, we have the best resorts, and you can come here and be happy. It鈥檚 like Disneyland for adults. But that鈥檚 not true for everybody who lives here鈥︹��
Native Hawaiians are very heavily impacted by the criminal justice system.
Rethinking equity in Hawai鈥榠 is also timely in the context of worldwide George Floyd protests and subsequent demands to reform the police. In Hawai鈥榠, Black people make up just 2% of the population, and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders suffer disproportionately from overpolicing and .
鈥淚t鈥檚 also a really great moment to be thinking in the terms that [the recovery team is], intersectionally, about their future, their feminist analysis with the rise of the current uprising of Black Lives Matter and thinking of policing and the criminal justice system,鈥� Goodyear-Ka鈥樑峱ua says. 鈥淸B]ecause, in Hawai鈥榠, it鈥檚 a situation where Native Hawaiians are very heavily impacted by the criminal justice system.鈥�
But the fact that the plan is intended to shape these sorts of state policies means it has to have some limitations, Goodyear-Ka鈥樑峱ua says.
Issues of land rights, self-determination, and sovereignty, all of which relate to a larger discussion of how Hawai驶i can be more autonomous from the rest of the United States, lay beyond the scope of the recovery scheme, she says. Still, she acknowledges that both the plan and activism around Hawaiian independence are both 鈥渟eeking a restoration of economic independence.鈥�
Judging by the plan that independence can take many forms, one idea is to allot 20% of federal stimulus money to the Native Hawaiian community, which will benefit Native women, a particularly vulnerable group. Another is to increase women鈥檚 access to employment opportunities outside of tourism and commercial sex work. Above all, 鈥渇eminist women鈥檚 leadership鈥� needs to be at the forefront of recovery planning and implementation.
The recovery plan recognizes that Hawai驶i is not a monolith.
Despite the plan鈥檚 specificity, it was never intended to be implemented to the letter of its current 23-page incarnation.
With all the agility of the U.S. Constitution, the recovery plan recognizes that Hawai驶i is not a monolith. It is a highly diverse nation of seven inhabited islands where people of together make up most of the population.
The feminist recovery plan is increasingly important as the number of COVID-19 cases grows in a majority of U.S. states. The plan has already started to influence state and county-level programs and legislation in Hawai驶i.
The state Senate is considering designating , which would allow child care businesses to open and caregivers to return to work, a main tenet of the feminist plan. The Recovery Team is still gathering and submitting in Maui County, intended to benefit the lives of women and girls on Maui, Moloka驶i, L膩na驶i, and Kaho驶olawe islands.
Jabola-Carolus also says the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations and the State Commission on the Status of Women are starting a jobs program to improve unemployed women鈥檚 access to green jobs and trade industries.
Inspired by these victories, the State Commission and local activists are continuing the conversation about how the recovery plan can best be interpreted and adapted in different localities for maximum impact.
鈥淲e鈥檙e still meeting every week and still doing events every week to talk about it,鈥� Jabola-Carolus says. 鈥淸T]here鈥檚 lots of room for revisions, not just on policy but what programs and actions are needed and we鈥檙e doing that. So, it鈥檚 still very much alive鈥︹��
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Ruth Terry
is an award-winning freelance journalist based in Istanbul, Turkey, who writes about everything from race to rollerskating.聽
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Megan Wildhood
is a writer, speaker, and advocate for the marginalized. She is the author of the poetry collection Long Division.
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