6.Women

60% of the world’s chronically hungry people are women and girls.

According to United Nations data, they constitute two-thirds of the almost 800 million illiterate people (a figure that has not changed in the last two decades), they earn an average of 60% less than men, they own less than 20% of arable land, despite the fact that more than 400 million women farmers produce most of the food consumed in the world.

CONSEQUENCES OF COVID-19

This past year, the impact of the pandemic on health is more than evident, this being the main concern of governments and society as a whole. However, it is necessary to recognize the economic and social consequences that they are generating in different areas such as gender in the short term and those that they will generate in the long term in order to mitigate the damage it causes. We are going to do a little review of the situation of women in the countries where we work.

BRAZIL

In March 2020, when the country decreed an emergency and states such as São Paulo, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro and Ceará began social distancing, there was a 38.9% increase in femicides compared to the same period of the previous year (FBSP, 2020). According to a study carried out by NGO Sempreviva, women in greater poverty and black women experience more violence and have more difficulties in reporting or denouncing the attacks they have suffered. On the other hand, the data on psychological violence are higher than those on physical violence.

COLOMBIA

In Colombia, women spend twice as much time on unpaid care and domestic work as men. Weekly, they spend an average of 50.6 hours, while they spend 23.9 hours on average2. Women continue to be the most affected by disproportionately assuming unpaid care, a burden that increases due to the closure of schools, preventive isolation in homes and the need for emotional containment of other family members in the face of the uncertainty produced by the pandemic. Due to the saturation of health systems and the closure of services, care tasks fall mainly on women in the homes, who, in general, have the responsibility of caring for sick relatives, the elderly and dependents, and children.

ECUADOR

women are more exposed to intimate partner violence or other forms of domestic violence due to increased tensions at home. A drop in your income could create further obstacles to leaving a violent partner (UN Women, 2020). In Ecuador in 2019 6.5 out of 10 women have suffered some type of gender-based violence at some point in their life, and the presence of couples who work at home or are unemployed increases the probability of violence by 28% (INEC, 2019).

ETHIOPIA

Ethiopian women experienced the biggest drops in employment rates at the start of the pandemic. Although the layoffs of workers were on a limited scale, female employees were hit the hardest. 64% of the workers laid off in April were women. Layoffs have decreased in recent months, but women are still disproportionately affected. Despite representing only 42% of the workforce, 57% of the workers laid off in June were women.

MOZAMBIQUE

Evidence from other countries affected by large-scale pandemics also indicates an increased risk of pregnancy for girls, which in turn increases the likelihood of dropping out of school. Currently in Mozambique, 33.2% of girls in urban areas and 44.4% in rural areas become pregnant before age 18. New family and school conditions expose more girls to the risks of pregnancy, without leave them no choice but to enter into early marriage to escape poverty and further humiliation in the community. On the other hand, the longer schools are closed, the greater the loss of learning time and the greater the chances that boys, especially girls, will not return to the classroom when schools reopen.

MUNDUKIDE’S WORK WITH WOMEN

Mundukide’s work is to ensure the full and effective participation of women and equal opportunities through training and actions specifically planned and directed to enhance their access to economic resources. Women play a fundamental role in the rural family that is not recognized in its proper measure, not having access to the same opportunities as men or to the same economic resources, creating a situation of undesirable dependency.

PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN IN OUR PROGRAMS

The following table shows different data on the participation of women in the different programs led by Mundukide in Africa and South America.