MENTHER BUSINESS
DON’T LEAVE US BEHIND While several plans have been instituted to provide support and on-going relief to certain sectors of the economy, like the social relief of distress grants of R350 - these are far from enough to sustain households, let alone individuals.
A
s South Africa and the world looks to rebuild its economy we need to make sure we don’t leave women at the periphery of economic emancipation. Globally, women are faced with the challenge of being left behind economically. The Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns have ravaged small businesses and certain sectors of the local economy to the extent that the financial freedom of most women is at risk. According to a report compiled by UN Women, titled “from insight to Action, Gender Equality in the wake of Covid-19”, women are losing
their livelihoods faster because they are more exposed to hard-hit economic sectors. The report adds, “according to a new analysis commissioned by UN
Women and UNDP, by 2021 around 435 million women and girls will be living on less than $1.90 a day — including 47 million pushed into poverty as a result of COVID-19”. The concern is that the larger impact of the pandemic will spread beyond just economics, but also hamper women’s access to sexual and reproductive health, as funds in the health care space have shifted to respond to the coronavirus. At the same time “violence against women reports have increased around the world, as widespread stay-at-home orders force women to shelter in place with their abusers, often with tragic consequences,” the report adds.
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