Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

On the Road to Net Zero Certified B Corporation

Our thinking

We regularly share our latest thinking on emerging topics and ideas in the worlds of business, society and the environment, along with our weekly sustainability digest, Friday 5.

The shadow pandemic

25 September, 2020

Last week, we talked about the Gates Foundation’s Goalkeepers’ Report, which highlighted the reversal of progress towards achieving the SDGs.

COVID-19 continues to exacerbate inequalities globally and reverse progress towards gender parity. This is clear throughout sub-Saharan Africa, of violence and abuse, due to the outbreak.

With schools closed, these spaces that were considered safe for girls are no longer accessible. This has meant that girls have been vulnerable to abuse that they could usually escape from during the school day, as the increased number of calls to helplines illustrates. In Kenya, for example, where the government has cancelled schooling completely until January, one helpline measured a ten-fold increase in calls.

As family incomes are hit, there are numerous unforeseen consequences. Girls have been forced by their families to marry for payment, or engage in transactional sex in their communities, in order to afford food and other essentials. What follows is an upsurge in teenage pregnancies, which impacts earning and educational opportunities for these girls. This, of course, has wider implications for society, and the World Bank estimates that child marriage costs African countries $60billion in lifetime earnings.

By Cara McEvoy

You might also like