| Overview : The global COVID-19 pandemic is putting at stake the hard-won advances Zambia has made towards the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals and risks exacerbating the existing socio-economic inequalities, particularly those between women and men. The COVID-19 crisis is a multidimensional crisis – health crisis, social crisis and economic crisis. Situations of crisis and emergency such as the Covid-19 pandemic tend to have a different socio-economic impact on females and males. Women already in situations of poverty and high vulnerability to social exclusion and human rights abuses will be affected, not only by the likely increase of the burden for caring for children and others (example: elderly parents, PWD) and the potential loss of income for those in formal and informal jobs, but also by the limited material conditions and infrastructure of their households, neighborhoods and communities. Gender Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic Disease outbreaks affect women and men differently and make existing inequalities for women and girls worse. In this regard, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is not gender neutral as it affects men and women differently. Although data for Covid-19 worldwide shows that more men than women are contracting COVID-19,women remain more vulnerable to the disproportionate economic, health and social risks resulting from such crises as the coronavirus pandemic, exacerbating existing gender inequalities. |
