N O V E M B E R
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S O E T Z I M
I m p a c t o f c o v i d - 1 9 o n g e n d e r e q u i t y A r t i c l e b y m p a l a w e n d y . t
The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 also poses a challenge in achieving gender equality. Gender-based violence has increased exponentially due to restricted movement and economic strain. The lockdown has increased the cases of women and girls violence with over 30% domestic violence increase. Women and young girls were trapped in their households with their abusers due to lockdown. Most of them were not only physically abused but also emotionally, sexually and financially and nothing much could be done because were told to stay indoors. Unpaid care and domestic work includes cooking and cleaning, fetching water and firewood or taking care of children and the elderly. They would carry out at least two and a half times more unpaid household and care work than men. As a result, women have less time to engage in paid labor, work longer hours, combining paid and unpaid labor. Hence the goal of achieving gender equity would not be a walk in the park. Women's unpaid work subsidizes the cost of care that sustains families, supports economies and often fills in for the lack of social services. Yet, it is rarely recognized as "work". Taking cue from patriarchal societies there should be put in place to promote equal distribution of paid and unpaid work in households to reduce these gender gap. Due to the pandemic many businesses closed down and many households were financially drained. And some of those households resorted in marrying off their children to rich people and 40% of them are being sexually abused. Not only that girls are able to live their live full potential lives without any harm due to female genital mutation. Hence such risk should be reduced to allows girls pursue their education, own their bodily autonomy and eventually become productive members of the social, economic and political processes .Educating women has a direct proportional relation with the development of the community. All of these impacts are made worse in contexts where countries have fragile and non-cohesive structures that are able to protect women and girls. The lack of strong institutional and systemic social cohesion continues to undermine the capacity and services need-
