Across every sphere, from health to the economy, security to social protection, the impacts of COVID-19 are exacerbated for women and girls simply by virtue of their sex.
Health pandemics can make it more difficult for women and girls to receive treatment and health services. This is compounded by multiple or intersecting inequalities, such as ethnicity, socioeconomic status, disability, age, race, geographic location and sexual orientation, among others which influences access and decision-making to critical health services and information about COVID-19.
Adolescent girls and women are among the most marginalised and at-risk populations when outbreaks and emergencies such as COVID-19 occur. Evidence from similar crises has shown to exacerbate existing vulnerabilities of girls and women, create new ones and deepen gender and social inequalities (UNFPA, 2020; World Vision, 2020b). Such negative secondary impact could lead to a significant reversal in gains made over the last decades in women’s and girls’ human capital, economic empowerment, voice and agency.
Evidence suggests that COVID-19 could result in significant negative long-term impact on women and girls’ health in Sub-Sahara Africa. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to reduced access to healthcare for non COVID-19 related issues. This is a result of movement restrictions, reduced healthcare services and lack of availability of healthcare providers who are stretched by the COVID-19 response (UNFPA, 2020). Though limited healthcare access effects the wider population, it can further exacerbated existing health related gender inequalities and lead to severe consequences for women and girls.
Restrictive social norms and gender stereotypes can also limit women’s ability to access health services. All of this has particular impacts during a widespread health crisis.
The provision of sexual and reproductive health services, including maternal health care and gender-based violence related services, are central to health, rights and well-being of women and girls. The diversion of attention and critical resources away from these provisions may result in exacerbated maternal mortality and morbidity, increased rates of adolescent pregnancies, HIV and sexually transmitted diseases.
Based on data from similar health crises, it is estimated that reduced access to contraceptives due to COVID-19, as well as other factors, could lead to anywhere between 325,000 and 15 million unintended pregnancies around the world, depending on the length of implementation of COVID-19 preventative measures 9 (UNFPA, 2020). Though this estimation is not disaggregated by region, it is fair to assume that SSA will be significantly affected by this increase.
Beyond the limited access to healthcare, evidence suggests that girls and women also face great challenges in obtaining health related information, which limits their ability to protect themselves from COVID-19 as well as other diseases. A study conducted in Nairobi found that in comparison to men, women have less accurate knowledge of the transmission, symptoms and preventive behaviours recommended during the COVID-19 crisis, and are less likely to wear masks outside the home (Population Council, 2020a).
Women and girls are finding it difficult to gain access to accurate information about COVID19 due to low access to technology in comparison to men. To illustrate, in 2019 the digital divide between men and women in Africa was significant, with 18.6% of women using the Internet compared to 24.9% of men (Laouan, 2020). Women and girls also face a literacy barrier when trying to access information. Women make up 61% of SSA’s illiterate adult population (UNESCO, 2018). Data from past health crises shows that people with low levels of literacy face higher rates of contracting diseases (Women for Women International, 2020).
As governments try to contain the damage, increasing inequalities have been revealed. The spread of the virus and its impact have been increased by inequalities along class, race, age and especially gender lines. If not addressed, and soon, the impact of the pandemic on women and the economy will last for an unprecedented number of years undoing previous strides in the socio-economic empowerment of women and girls.
In order to address the socio-economic impact of Covid-19, it will be important to apply an intentional gender lens to the design of fiscal stimulus packages and social assistance programmes to achieve greater equality, opportunities, and social protection.
