The coronavirus crisis has exacerbated inequalities for millions of girls and women across the globe. Even before the pandemic, many of them spent long hours on unpaid work caring for children and other family members, and they endured domestic violence, child marriage, limited opportunities to attend school, and restrictions on movement. Most of these problems quickly got worse during the spread of COVID-19, research shows. That’s in part because so many girls and women have been under lockdown. But what happens as economies reopen?
If the past is any prediction, life for these girls and women may fail to improve when the pandemic passes, and might even worsen. This could set back decades of progress on human rights.
For girls and young women, as well as the grant makers, advocates, and organizations dedicated to championing their rights, the situation is urgent. We cannot let hard-won gains for gender equality be lost to this pandemic. Nor should we limit our ambitions to returning to pre-Covid realities, which already were riddled with discrimination and inequalities. We must use this health and economic crisis as an opportunity. We need to marshal our resources and influence to stand with adolescent girls and young women and invest in a future that upends the status quo.
In the post-Covid world — or at least a world beyond the acute phase of the pandemic — women and girls, in all their diversity, need to have the freedom and the means to choose their own futures. We cannot, and will not, settle for less.
So, what exactly do we need to do?
The Child Marriage and Sexuality Working Group and partners issued 12 recommendations for grant makers, governments, and other leaders to support a transformation that sets the world on a better path toward gender equality. This group is made up of many well-known national and global organizations that work closely with adolescent girls and young women across the world, including American Jewish World Service, where I work.
We set out a vision that takes us beyond the immediate crisis, with an eye toward a more just and feminist future. And while the work of our organizations focuses mostly on the developing world, Covid has consequences for the health, livelihoods, and safety of women and girls everywhere — including the United States, where it disproportionately harms people of color.
Our top calls to action:
Fund efforts to tackle the stereotypes and social norms about gender and sexuality that constrain women’s and girls’ freedom. Too many programs and policies aiming to improve lives of women and girls ignore the elephant in the room: patriarchy, and how this drives social control over women’s and girls’ bodies and sexuality. This is at the root of so many problems, including child marriage, gender-based violence, and lack of reproductive freedom. Confronting this head-on is often taboo, and those who mean well see it as a nonstarter and try to work around it. But if these norms aren’t challenged and eventually transformed — in families and communities, in educational and health systems, laws and policies, and the economy — other positive changes could prove to be superficial and unsustainable.
Abandon a top-down approach concocted in offices in New York, Seattle, or D.C. Instead, fund local projects led by women and young people who understand the complexities of gender and age — as well as race, class, caste, sexual orientation, disability — in their own context. Programs should foster girls’ and young women’s ability to set their path as individuals and also encourage them to take collective action. Supporting them to build a critical, feminist perspective to recognize the forms and sources of discrimination that limit their opportunities is an essential starting point for them to develop their own vision for their lives, and to generate solidarity for working together to demand changes in the world around them.
Invest in services and systems that adolescent girls and young women need to thrive. This means ensuring access to the full range of sexual and reproductive health and rights — including contraceptives, safe abortion, and menstrual-hygiene items. These are, in fact, essential services for women and girls to have control over their own bodies. Support mental-health services tailored to the specific stresses girls and young women face — such as violence, child marriage, and limited freedom and mobility. What’s more, get girls back to school when schools reopen — and remove restrictions on pregnant girls, married girls, or young mothers completing their education.
Long before this pandemic hit, in country after country, women and girls faced crises rooted in gender inequality. Now, their perspectives, their experiences, their demands, and their definitions of success must be at the heart of our efforts to build a better world. Making greater space for their contributions — their intelligence, creativity, and insights — will make the world more vibrant for everyone. We urge foundations, individual donors, governments, and leaders everywhere to put money into programs that transform the lives of adolescent girls and young women. Let’s embrace this opportunity to create a “new normal” that puts their rights and dreams at the center.
