Addressing the gender dimensions of COVID-related school closures

  • R Research Project/Report/Study

? Activity Status: Unknown

Key Information

Experience tells us that public health outbreaks have distinct gendered impacts, and that preparedness and response efforts must understand the gendered dimensions of the crises to avert widening inequalities and seize opportunities to advance gender equality. The COVID-19 pandemic is no different. Most governments around the world have temporarily closed educational institutions in recent months in an attempt to contain the spread of COVID-19. In April 2020, schooling was disrupted for 1.3 billion students from pre-primary through secondary in over 190 countries. Now, in 46 countries, 735 million students, including 356 million girls, are uncertain when they will sit in a classroom again. This includes those who have been involved in distance learning for the past 6-9 months during the COVID pandemic, as well as newly enrolled students. Some 23.8 million children and youth (from pre-primary to tertiary), including over 11 million girls, may dropout due to the pandemic’s economic impact. As governments consider whether to continue distance learning, or reopen schools, they must consider the risks of exacerbating disparities, and how to address the potential for disengagement and dropout among both boys and girls when schools reopen. While this is a crisis situation, it can also be seen as a window of opportunity to ‘build back equal’ through gender-responsive measures that transform education systems, prioritize resilience, and address the key bottlenecks and barriers to girls’ education.


Location(s)

Global

Government Affiliation

Non-governmental program

Years

2020 -

Partner(s)

Not applicable or unknown

Ministry Affiliation

Unknown

Funder(s)

Not applicable or unknown

COVID-19 Response

New for COVID-19

Geographic Scope

Global / regional

Meets gender-transformative education criteria from the TES  

Unknown

Areas of Work Back to Top

Education areas

Attainment

  • Primary enrollment
  • Primary to secondary transition

Other

  • Other
  • Remote Learning

Quality

  • Curricula/lesson plans
  • School facilities
  • School quality

Cross-cutting areas

  • COVID-19 Response
  • Economic/livelihoods (including savings/financial inclusion, etc.)
  • Emergencies and protracted crises
  • Gender equality
  • Violence (at home, in relationships)

Program participants

Target Audience(s)

Boys (both in school and out of school), Girls (both in school and out of school), Youth

Age

Not applicable or unknown

School Enrolment Status

Not applicable or unknown

School Level

Not applicable or unknown

Other populations reached

  • Teachers - female

Participants include

Not applicable or unknown

Program Approaches Back to Top

Educational Technology

  • Digital devices for the purposes of studying, learning
  • Digital learning materials/programs

Learning while working

  • Vocational training

Life skills education

  • Gender, rights and power

Other

  • Other activities to address/end violence (not captured above)

Policy/legal environment

  • Advocating changes to existing laws/policies
  • Developing/promoting new laws/policies

Teaching

  • Hiring more female teachers

Women's empowerment programs

  • Advocacy/action

Program Goals Back to Top

Education goals

  • Increased grade attainment
  • Increased school enrolment (general)

Cross-cutting goals

  • More equitable gender attitudes and norms
  • Reduced school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV)