Celebrating women on the frontlines - the stories behind how COVID changed lives

In March 2020, the world abruptly shifted as COVID forced countries into lockdown. As uncertainty loomed and daily life ground to a halt, essential workers emerged as the backbone of society, braving the pandemic to keep key services running smoothly.

Women on The Frontlines is an exhibition in a studio in bustling east London. It honors and features the stories of 10 women from a range of sectors, including healthcare and financial services. The exhibition delves into their extraordinary experiences during this unprecedented period. Despite facing immense challenges, these unsung heroines persevered, often without recognition for their pivotal roles.

Now, four years after the initial lockdown, COVID remains an enduring symbol of our time — the marker of a generation, as described by Elizabeth Okoh, the artist behind Women on The Frontlines.

"I'm not a policy maker and I can't increase their salaries. But as an artist, I can celebrate them and empower them in my own way. This project has made it possible and I feel happy I've been able to do this," Okoh told CGTN.

She says this exhibition serves as a poignant reminder to celebrate these women, and others like them across the nation, while they are still among us. Their sacrifices and contributions during the pandemic are not only deserving of recognition but also offer valuable lessons for the future.

CGTN spoke to some of these women about their experience of working through the pandemic and how it has shaped them.

'It made me feel abandoned'

Hannah Martin, who worked as a deputy team leader in a financial services institution, during the pandemic, was initially surprised to find out that her role fell in the key worker category. 

"It was because the stock brokering we do keeps the economy going so that's why our work suddenly became vital," explains Martin. "Without us completing trades and finishing settlements, money wouldn't have been moving through the economy and through the markets. It was a surreal moment to realize that I'm a key worker."

The financial services expert found working during the pandemic "challenging." But she enjoyed how they had to be innovative to convert a paper-based system to an electronic one that could be used remotely.

She did, however, found herself to be one of the few people in her team who had to be in the office all day every day, with her usual 9-5 hours extending to 12- or even 13-hour days, where she felt she was "living at the office and would go home on short visits."

"It made me feel abandoned. It really knocked my confidence and self-worth," she recounts. "The guidelines from the company basically backed us into a corner because they'd marked everybody as flexible workers, effectively allowing them to stay at home. That was really hard because there was no thought for those of us who'd been in the office the whole time. I felt so angry at the time."

It didn't really hit her until about six months after the pandemic ended. She moved teams and it hit her hard in January 2023 that her mental health had suffered as a result. "I'm in regular therapy now and have to take medication for depression and anxiety as a result," she says. 

She feels honored to be among the women who have been featured in this exhibition. She says she feels like "an imposter but at the same time, I know what I did during the pandemic".

'It was crazy'

"There was new legislation coming out every day about practices that we needed to change, like who was allowed to come in and who was not, the number of people you could have in a room etc," recalls Anila Arshad-Mehmood, who worked in safeguarding in the education sector. "I had to make decisions on things I had no knowledge of or experience in. It was crazy."

Arshad-Mehmood was responsible for safeguarding 10,000 students across four campuses of a west London college. She remembers how she had to make a lot of crucial decisions and had to follow her instinct to ensure the students' physical and psychological needs were being met even when they were not on site.

"It became a case of working out what's a priority, what's the most urgent thing - getting the student a laptop? Or is it securing a food bank referral so they wouldn't go hungry at home?" she asks. She worked unmanageable hours, which blurred the boundaries between work and personal life. All this stress left her burnt out. 

But she acknowledges it has made her much more confident in her decision-making abilities. Arshad-Mehmood has since changed careers and is now self-employed in the training and development sector.

Speaking after the panel event to celebrate the Women on the Frontlines, Arshad-Mehmood said: "I almost feel a little bit embarrassed because it feels like there's other women who were in more challenging situations and had a more difficult experience than me, I'm just honored to be among them.”

'My strong faith got me through the pandemic'

Esther Oghenekaro works as a welfare benefits advisor at University College Hospital, London. As part of her role, she provides guidance to cancer patients and individuals with other medical conditions regarding available financial assistance. The transition from in-person to online consultations posed a significant challenge. 

Patients were required to submit documentation outside the hospital, reducing their direct interaction with Oghenekaro and her team. Additionally, changes in laws related to finances and benefits necessitated a deeper understanding of available resources to support those in need. 

Despite these challenges, Oghenekaro remained committed to assisting patients through phone consultations, ensuring they received the financial support they required during their treatment.

"A major challenge was that some of the patients did not know we were still working so as a consequence some of them may not have come in and would have struggled with their finances," Oghenekaro said. "Some elderly patients may not have been aware of all the changes because the changes were also happening really quickly."

Esther says this experience has made her even more resilient than before. "I have a strong faith so that is what got me through the pandemic without worrying. Also, I made sure that I followed the rules in order to protect my family and friends," Oghenekaro explained. "So when rules allowed and I wanted to meet anyone who was home. I took precautions as best I could."

She seemed happy to be at the event and said: "I'm glad that we've been able to tell our stories."

'There were some very scary moments'

During the pandemic, Makeda Blake worked as a community nurse in a south London suburb. The main challenge she experienced right from the start was the lack of availability of personal protective equipment (PPE).

"Sometimes we would have it and other times we wouldn't, so it had to be rationed at crucial times. There were some very scary moments," recalls Blake.

And on top of that, there were times when she had to attend to her regular patients even when they had COVID. It made her feel anxious for her own health as well as her loved ones so all she could do was to follow the guidelines and the hygiene protocols.

"It was really nerve-wracking but you also have to try and reassure yourself as well as the patient," she said. "There were patients who were scared even for us to come in but obviously they needed us. Some patients had family members who were vulnerable so we had to take all that into consideration."

She found it extremely challenging that after all these visits when she'd go home, she couldn't hug her son because she would remove all the protective gear and jump in the shower so as not to risk exposing him to the virus. 

Working with palliative patients during their end-of-life care posed unique challenges, especially because during the pandemic physical contact and traditional gestures of support were not allowed. 

Despite sensing the need for reassurance and comfort for both patients and their families, restrictions on touching and close interaction made it difficult for Blake to convey empathy and maintain a sense of connection. "I found it very difficult because we are all humans at the end of the day," she said.

It has affected her mental health and although she was offered support for it, which felt like "a tick-box exercise" to her. Seeing her portraits at the exhibition, she said: "It's nice for someone to take notice."

'I felt strong and confident'

"The most difficult thing for me at that time was that I could not practice what I had trained for," Margaret Davis, who works in the funeral services sector in Northern Ireland, told CGTN.

"I trained as an embalmer to deliver that very special care for families and I felt completely frustrated at the fact that I couldn't undertake that because of public health guidelines in Northern Ireland."

Davis, however, was able to offer and practice embalming care outside of her home country. Despite feeling adequately protected by the training and the PPE provided, Davis remained concerned about inadvertently passing on the virus to her elderly parents and an immunocompromised family member at home. 

"I'd say my fear was minimal because I have trained professionally and I felt strong and confident to do that," she said.

Davis was part of the panel that discussed the contributions of the women who have been profiled in Women on the Frontlines, which she acknowledges has been "a sheer privilege,"

'I'm not just the bus driver but also a beautiful human being’

Natasha Watson was a London bus driver for six and a half years and was made redundant just two months ago after her stationary bus was hit by a car. She drove the bus during the pandemic but has since trained and qualified as a trichologist.

"I felt really unappreciated, almost invisible. There were a lot of passengers getting on the bus really angry because we had to reduce the passenger intake to go with the guidelines of keeping six feet apart," said Watson.

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When she did the morning shift, she'd see massive queues of people at bus stops as early as six in the morning. "We were allowed to take about 20 people on the bus and you'd get to the bus stop and there would be about 120," she said. 

And after being at capacity when she wouldn't allow more passengers to board the bus "they would go mad." Watson understood their frustration because often they had to undertake that journey to get to work so she "felt a sadness but I was almost angered as well, because it was like there was nothing I could do yet I was getting abused, so it was hard."

She recalls having to apologize a lot and reassuring those left waiting that another bus would be there soon, although the bus service had been significantly reduced at the time.

Watson's experience of driving the bus during the pandemic was quite distressing. Dealing with abusive passengers, being unable to access basic amenities like bathroom facilities because everything had been shut down and fearing for her health were significant challenges. The constant worry of contracting the virus, possibly from someone who sneezed on the bus, made it quite "frightening."

She feels really proud to have been featured in this exhibition. She feels happy that she has been able to "get glammed up and show that I'm not just the bus driver but also a beautiful human being."

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