In this blog, Flora Francis Bringi reflects on the social impact of COVID-19 on South Sudanese women and girls. Drawing on her work in the field of Gender with a number of South Sudanese NGOs including her current appointment as Managing Director for Ana Fii Consultancy, Flora highlights some social problems that South Sudanese women and girls face in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak in South Sudan and shares some insights for the adoption of a conflict-sensitive/gender lens in humanitarian programming.

COVID-19 is heightening existing gender inequalities and the exclusion of women from decision making – which is perhaps reflected in the male dominance of the 15-member National Taskforce for COVID-19. Women continue to be marginalized and have limited access to critical information on COVID-19, despite the fact that they carry a disproportionate loads in terms of caring for and supporting their families.

The ongoing closure of schools across South Sudan is arguably having a greater social impact on girls than boys. The closure of schools has left many girls at greater risk of early marriage, domestic abuse, and a disproportionate burden of domestic work. The presence of girls in their homes, coupled with mounting economic challenges, has led to an increased likelihood of early or forced marriage, which can lead to a rise in the school drop-out rates among girls. For instance, with COVID-19 drastically affecting the income of many families in South Sudan, some parents are adapting a strategy of marrying off their daughters in order to survive. Additionally, as noted by Plan International, school closures expose girls to the risk of gender-based violence at home, especially when they are left alone; a trend which has also been noted in South Sudan since the COVID-19 outbreak. Despite schools’ attempts to engage students through sending them homework, many girls are finding it difficult to keep up as they are overburdened with household chores, particularly caretaking roles as their mothers’ struggle to make ends meet. The additional workload brought about by COVID-19 is likely to have greater psychological impact on girls than boys, which is a consideration that agencies working on education programming should use to inform their response in the current COVID-19 crisis.

Social distancing can have negative impacts that disproportionately affect women and girls. For example, in South Sudan women and girls are expected to host people within their homes, even during the COVID-19 crisis, exposing them to further risk of infection. At their homes, they are expected to warmly welcome visitors through handshakes and attending and talking to them. For fear of being rebuked, some women overlook social distancing measures so that they don’t appear rude to their visitors. They are also expected to care for the sick at home and in hospitals – both for those affected by COVID-19 itself and for those suffering from seasonal diseases associated with the rainy season, such as typhoid and malaria – a domestic responsibility that may further increase the threat to their lives. During funerals, women are obliged to be involved in many activities, including consoling families, giving water and cooking, requiring them to intermingle with a large number of relatives and guests, and making it harder to adhere to the COVID-19 measures than their male counterparts, who are expected to perform fewer duties at funerals. Therefore, a popular South Sudanese saying that “woman can’t be a guest” in the context of COVID further heightens the risk to women’s lives.

Women also face disproportionate risks to COVID-19 through their livelihood activities. As the majority of permanent shops selling non-food items are owned by men, their forced closure meant that men could choose to limit their exposure to the disease, as well as have additional time to put in place protective measures. However, many women run small businesses providing essential services, such as selling fresh vegetables, or socially important businesses, such as tea stalls and continued to operate during the lockdown. Yet, the spaces in which they operate are congested and crowded, exposing them to the virus as they continue to sit in close proximity to each other. Aside from business, women use the opportunity of meeting at the market to socially interact with one another and discuss their domestic-related issues, thus furthering their risk of infection.

Finally, the lack of women’s inclusion in decision making and how this can affect the COVID-19 response can be seen in the distribution of jerry cans to traders in Juba to control the spread of the disease in markets. Many women’s businesses operate in open spaces with no permanent structures and they were either did not receive jerry cans, or the challenges they faced in finding the extra space to place them were not considered. Tensions arose between traders who received jerry cans and those who did not, as well as between women traders who did not receive jerry cans and the authorities/humanitarian agencies. In response, during COVID-19 radio call-ins women who had not received jerry cans or other materials, such as soap, made direct requests to the authorities and NGOs to supply them with these. Due to women’s low literacy rates and exclusion from public decision making, the radio can be one of the only platforms available to them to have their voice and concerns heard.

Some recommendations:

  • Proactively reach out to women and girls to ensure gender sensitive measures are being integrated into the COVID-19 response to reduce risks faced by women and girls, especially the risk of gender based violence: By proactively reaching out to women and girls when designing activities, agencies can ensure that their concerns, challenges and needs are being heard and addressed.
  • Ensure that girls are able to continue their education, despite the school closures: Awareness campaigns within communities on the importance of girls continuing their education and working with families ensure that girls are able to focus on their studies will be vital. The Girls’ Education in South Sudan (GESS) “Behaviour Change Communication” radio programme which involves interacting with girls and their parents with the aim of enhancing girls’ access to education is something that can be adapted for the current COVID-19 context.
  • Continuously revisit and update conflict sensitivity and gender analysis that have been completed: UNWOMEN completed a Rapid Gender Analysis in April/May 2020 and agencies are encouraged to build on and supplement this analysis using a conflict sensitive lens. Key questions to consider include: how could responses to COVID-19 be impacted by, and impact upon these gender norms in South Sudan?; Is there a danger of increased domestic violence if men are unable to play role of bread winner, and feel their authority is being challenged or undermined?
  • Ensure that representatives selected by women traders are consulted when distributing WASH materials for public spaces: Low women’s participation in public decision making is a recognized challenge in South Sudan. If women are not consulted in the decision making process, the distribution and placement of WASH facilities in public spaces could marginalize them, create unnecessary tensions or elevate their risk of exposure to the virus. Purposefully engaging women’s representatives in markets and POC sites is particularly important.
  • Conduct awareness campaigns directly targeting women and girls on how to protect them against the disease and to ensure that they have access to information which they can understand: Given the unequal expectations of women and girls when it comes to hosting and caretaking roles amid COVID-19, there’s a need to conduct awareness on how to protect them against the disease and to ensure that they have access to information which they can understand. In this regard, agencies need to, alongside their COVID-19 messaging, highlight the risks that various individuals are exposed to while doing their socially expected roles and persuade people to adjust some of their thinking and attitudes during COVID-19.

 

Photo credit: Pete Muller / Location: Tonj East, Warrap State