Former Malawian President, Dr. Joyce Hilda Banda has disclosed that women and girls are more vulnerable to the devastating of effects of the novel COVID-19 pandemic on the continent of Africa as the pandemic has within the last three months subjected young girls in a district in Malawi to early and unwanted pregnancy and others untold hardship.
The educator and grassroots women’s activist who presided over the affairs of Malawi from May 2009 to April 2012 made the shocking revelation while speaking at the Osasu Show Symposium on the devastating impact of COVID -19 on the continent of Africa, specifically on women and girl with regards to gender equality.
She said women have lost the gains made on gender equality since 1995 in Beijing as a result of the devastating negative impacts of COVID-19 on the continent of Africa, which has resulted to teen marriages, teen pregnancies, lack of access to quality education, gender based violence, poverty, etc.
“First and foremost let me say how delighted I am that we are discussing this today. I am really devastated and heart broken because the impression that I get just watching what is happening across Africa is that we have lost a lot of the gains that we have made since 1995 when we went in Beijing in as far as gender inequality is concerned.
“I am devastated because here in Malawi and across Africa, there are lots of girls driven out of schools, they have not gone to school in the last six months anywhere, so there are lots of teen pregnancies, there are lots of teen marriages.
“In Malawi and in one District alone in the last three months, fifteen thousand girls have become pregnant and some of us have spent our entire money trying to send as many as possible girls to school and that is a great plus and I know this is happening across Africa.
“Secondly, we see an increase also in gender based violence and we are having difficulty explaining that we all found ourselves in this difficult situation but then women have become the victims.
“In South Africa alone, every six hours, a woman is being killed, what is it we can do and that should be the discussion now. If you ask me there are lots of girls dropping out of school, there are lots of gender based violence but worst still there is poverty because there are so many countries that are on lockdown, restrictions, curfew etc.
“So, in Africa, we have 15% of urban base and well to do while the rest 85% are locked up in poverty before COVID-19, so what is going on now is that because they live on daily subsistence from hand to mouth, they go to the market, sell and buy and they have a meal for that day but now they can’t go out, people are locked up in their homes and are starving.
“Governments are not able in most part of Africa to provide food to poor families, they are not able to support education in most part of Africa, I am talking about supporting children to have access to online education, children are not learning in opened school.
“If you ask me what I am seeing in Africa during this COVID-19, it devastating that we as women in Africa are helplessly watching all the gains we made being lost”, she lamented.
