World Leaders Must Prioritise Gender Equality

COVID-19, emergencies, wars, and disasters continue to have a huge impact on women and girls. Evidence shows that without urgent investment, the pandemic will reverse gender equality by a generation. .

Women bear the heaviest burden.

Every time a humanitarian or economic disaster hits, women will bear the heaviest burden.

Annie Lennox

Annie Lennox

The Covid-19 crisis has seen this ugly truth played out on a worldwide scale, in rich and poor countries alike, with the most discriminated-against groups enduring the harshest impacts. COVID-19 has had a devastating effect on the lives of women and girls beyond its obvious impact as a health emergency. In poorer countries, girls have been disproportionately pulled out of school, many of whom will never return. Around the world, it has doubled women’s domestic workload, impacting their careers, or stopping their employment altogether. And perhaps most heinous of all, it has exacerbated the everlasting scourge of violence against women, particularly in their own homes.

Yet – as ever – women are on the frontlines in tackling this crisis, just as they are in every crisis. Despite the multiple threats facing them, women have been at the forefront of the response to Covid-19. If world leaders are serious about gender equality, if there is any weight behind their words, they must prove it.

Let's Make It Happen

WE NEED WORLD LEADERS TO:

01

Tackle violence against women and girls

02

Tackle inequality in unpaid care

03

Support women and girls' leadership

04

Stop harmful aid cuts

Ending violence & empowering women

We are inspired by our grassroots project partners empowering women who experience violence, abuse and poverty.

  • Women in Leadership in Uganda are running a radio campaign that is successfully raising awareness of the support available to women who are experiencing domestic violence and who are in need of support. The ongoing campaign has seen many more women reach out and ask for support. Their research showed that many women don’t know that help is available. Through their work they seek to break the silence around domestic violence, and train village health workers to provide advocacy for survivors at health centres and when they wish to report an incident to the police.
  • HomeNet Pakistan won a potentially life-changing campaign to change the law to ensure it provides protection to home-based workers in Pakistan. They are now campaigning to have the law adopted in the provinces to ensure it reaches women who are often isolated and unaware of their rights.
  • Sikh Women’s Aid have released the first ever report in the UK that looks to evidence and examine the prevalence and impact of domestic and sexual violence in the Sikh/Panjabi community.
  • Women’s Centre Sri Lanka are bringing leadership to hundreds of female garment worker activists and girls to fight for their rights. They have recently published a report into the barriers faced by women in Sri Lanka when accessing their rights and fighting for gender equality.