The surge of Covid-19 pandemic had forced the governments all around the world to declare lockdown and other preventive measures to limit the spread of the virus. Although the outcome of such initiatives has positively contributed towards communities, it has also taken a disproportionate toll on women and girls in terms of their health and rights. The finding of this study is premised upon the interpretation of information from different relevant secondary sources. This review article explores the situation of women and girls during Covid-19 in a developing country like Bangladesh. The findings of the study suggest that, women and girls are the worst sufferer of COVID-19 pandemic. The societal constructed gender roles along with historical inequality and systematic disenfranchisement have added to their vulnerability substantially during this dire time. Women and girls have suffered both socially i.e., domestic violence; economically i.e., unemployment; and physically i.e., unaddressed sexual and reproductive health needs. However, the article also suggests plausible solutions to overcome the undesirable situation through undertaking a holistic approach towards safeguarding the health and rights of women in Bangladesh. Measures like economic empowerment through stimulus package, social protection through safety net programs along with need based innovative interventions from government, non-government and private agencies are expected to put a break on the ongoing gendered mishaps and augment the position of women and girls in the society.

Introduction: Safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) are crucial to human health. It is essential to reduce inequalities and ensure universal access to WASH to achieve the agenda of sustainable development. We aimed to measure access to WASH, understand the situation and factors affecting WASH practices among the ethnic minority population in Bangladesh, and whether it is related to structural racism towards them. Methodology: We utilized data from the multiple indicator cluster survey-2019. We used the chi-square test for bivariate analysis and multiple logistic regression analyses to identify the effect of ethnicity on WASH in Bangladesh after controlling education, wealth, religion, region, and place of residence. Furthermore, we systematically reviewed the WASH-related policies and programs of Bangladesh to identify structural racism. Findings: While 98.5% of Bengali had access to basic drinking water services, the percentage is 60.6% for the ethnic minority population. For improved sanitation facilities not shared with others, the difference between Bengali and ethnic populations was 22.3% (64.6% vs. 42.3%). On the other hand, 75% of the Bengali population had a handwashing facility with water and soap, and 50% of the ethnic population had them. Ethnicity appeared to be a statistically significant predictor of every component of WASH. Compared to Bengali, the ethnic population had 92%, 39%, 44%, and 18% less access to water (aOR=0.08, p≤0.001), sanitation (aOR=0.61, p≤0.001), and handwashing (aOR=0.56, p≤0.001), and WASH facilities aOR=0.82, p≤0.001), respectively. Among the policies of Bangladesh, only one identified actions for WASH rights of the ethnic, indicating structural inequality. Conclusion: Government should identify the issues of WASH among the ethnic minorities and represent them adequately in the policies for achieving the aim of ‘leaving none behind’ of sustainable development goals.