We need to cushion women, girls from burdens of coronavirus

The school closures and household isolation resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic have shifted child care from the paid economy — schools — to the unpaid domestic economy normally undertaken by women, putting more strain on their normative responsibilities and means of earning incomes.

More men than women are dying of Covid-19. But in Kenya, women make up 75 per cent of the healthcare workforce and are bound to be on the frontline against the virus — as in West Africa during the Ebola pandemic.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says many women and girls under Covid-19 lockdown suffer violence at home, where they should be safest.

In Kenya, the national helpline 1195 registered an increase in gender-based violence (GBV) cases in March — the month when the dusk-to-dawn curfew commenced — with 115 cases, up from 86 in February, an increase of 33.72 per cent in just three weeks.

The leading forms of violence are physical assault, psychological torture and defilement. The curfew has increased the vulnerability of women and girls owing to confinement with their abusers.

SPECIALISED RESPONSE

Women in quarantine face increased risks of intimate partner violence. Girls staying home from school are vulnerable to forms of abuse, such as defilement and female genital mutilation (FGM).

The economic dependence and marginalisation of women make them more vulnerable, especially amid an pandemic.

We should undertake targeted adequate measures to address gendered salient issues — domestic and sexual abuse, poverty and loss of prospects.

This requires a specialised response that recognises and addresses their rights, health and social needs and promotes their participation and leadership in the process.

And besides the government’s immediate mitigation measures, let us interrogate sustainable solutions to these problems.

First, collate and disaggregate data related to the outbreak by sex, age and disability.

Generating sex-disaggregated data and a gender-responsive analysis will inform an inclusive and comprehensive Covid-19 prevention, response and recovery strategy.

STRESS SITUATIONS

Secondly, as people fall ill, women and girls naturally assume increased unpaid care work burdens.

Under our sociocultural auspices, they do more than their fair share, limiting their educational attainment, workforce participation and advancement. Thirdly, expand health resources.

Particular groups of women and girls face other health risks. Make sexual and reproductive health services for them and life-saving care for expectant mothers accessible.

Adolescent girls have the highest HIV prevalence and constantly need medication. Fourthly, and probably most importantly, address gender-based violence.

In heightened stress situations, women are at increased risk of violence committed by their partners and family members.

Isolation provides fertile ground for early marriages, unwanted pregnancies, HIV infections and FGM.

As a country, we should probably elevate gender-based violence as a public health crisis, and resource it accordingly.

Fifthly, guarantee education of girls as they are more likely to be potentially exposed to societal ills.

SOCIAL SAFETY

Girls face pressure to drop out of school during crises, as the Ebola pandemic taught us.

Finally, promote women’s economic opportunities to cushion them against the subsequent socioeconomic hardships. Cash transfers would ensuring a social safety net for those most in need. General empowerment and inclusion of women in all spheres of national life will go a long way in cushioning families and communities.

Crises magnify the cracks in our systems and present opportunities for mitigating interventions.

Covid-19’s impact, manifest or latent, should be as a wake-up call for all communities that heightened attention to the health, education, economic opportunity, safety and decision-making power for women and girls can help to create a world where the brunt of pandemics are less painful.

Prof Kobia is the Cabinet Secretary for Public Service, Youth and Gender. [email protected].