Now and the Future: Gender Equality, Peace and Security in a COVID-19 World – Uganda

The COVID-19 crisis has disproportionately impacted women, exacerbating existing gender inequalities by increasing violence against women and girls, denying their access to healthcare services, increasing the burden of unpaid care and impacting jobs in the informal sector where women mainly work. These impacts have particularly been felt amongst the poorest and most marginalised groups, including young women and girls, LBTQI+ women, refugees and internally displaced women and girls, and women and girls with disabilities.

Women and women’s rights organisations are also at the forefront of the COVID-19 community response, yet women are not being included in decision making and policy development in response to the pandemic. For example, on average women make up less than 1 in 4 of the members of the task forces established to steer the prevention and response across Uganda when COVID-19 hit, with men holding the most influential positions. Without women’s participation and leadership at this level, Covid-19 response measures have ignored women’s needs and worsened the gendered impacts of the crisis.

Womankind partner Women’s International Peace Centre – with the support of Womankind Worldwide and Gender Action for Peace and Security (GAPS) – has undertaken research in Uganda to support governments, INGOs and multilateral agencies to better understand the gender, peace and security impacts of COVID-19. The report sets out a number of recommendations based on research’s evidence to develop policy and programming responses that focus on rebuilding more equal and just societies that put women’s rights and the voices of women and women’s rights organisations at the heart of the COVID-19 recovery process, and help to ensure better and more effective responses to future pandemics and shocks.