International Women ’s Day, 2021Women in Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in a COVID-19 World

By Lesley Ann FosterJOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Mar 5 2021 (IPS) International Women’s day 2021 heralds a particularly challenging time for women and girls. The Covid pandemic has battered our world to such an extent that we know that our lives have been irrevocably changed and has rolled back some of the gains we made in the human rights and gender equality field. Lesley Ann FosterSouth Africa has the most infections and deaths on the African continent. Women suffered the brunt of the pandemic due mainly to the inequality in our country that existed prior to this health disaster. Some 2,6 million jobs were lost with two out of every three jobs lost being lost to women. Women constitute the bulk of informal traders and are largely found in the travel and hospitality industry which was hard hit by the pandemic. The lock down saw children and students working from home and men who lost jobs returned home as well. The burden of care fell largely to women. Women took on the responsibility of caring for the sick, the infected and many who lost family members had the burden of funerals placed at their doorstep. Food insecurity was at its highest levels in spite of the social grants that the state made available to try to mitigate the hunger deepened by the pandemic. Stepping up 85 women’s groups who are part of a network of rural women’s groups that Masimanyane Women’s Rights International supports, provided leadership at great cost with some lives lost to the pandemic. Y...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Africa Economy & Trade Education Food Security and Nutrition Gender Gender Violence Global Headlines Health Human Rights Humanitarian Emergencies Inequity Labour International Women's Day 2021 Source Type: news