Unlocking the Lockdown: Gender-Differentiated Consequences of COVID-19 in Afghanistan

"COVID-19 has taught us that promoting agendas such as those calling for increased equity or empowerment requires a more sustainable approach in order to devote further attention to changing attitudes and social norms."

Studies conducted globally to date on the gendered impacts of COVID-19, as well as lessons learned from previous crises, clarify that a one-size-fits-all response will not suffice. Thus, to understand the gender-specific consequences of COVID-19 in Afghanistan, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and UN Women partnered with civil society organisations and a mobile network operator (Roshan) to conduct a rapid assessment survey across Afghanistan. Distributed via SMS (text message) and in person, the survey is part of a regional initiative to understand the differential impact of the pandemic on individuals across the Asia-Pacific region. Sharing survey results, this report details the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Afghan women and girls, including how it is affecting employment, health, unpaid care, migration, internally displaced people (IDPs), returnees, and host communities.

The mixed methodology approach to data collection was conducted in 2 phases from April 3 to August 3 2020: (i) An SMS (text message) containing a link to the survey was disseminated to 2.4 million users of Roshan Telecom internet data packages, delivered over a period of one week in 31 of 34 provinces. (ii) A series of telephone and face-to-face interviews were conducted with different communities, including IDPs, returnees, and host communities. In total, 8,245 responses were received through this approach.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, 77% of Afghans surveyed reported that the pandemic has negatively affected their emotional and mental health. However, women face additional challenges and discrimination in accessing services due to the lack of female health practitioners and cultural barriers restricting women's travel, especially in rural areas. In fact, the impacts on women and girls have worsened across the board - largely due to gendered social norms that are a major source of persisting gender inequalities. For example, on the economic front, findings indicate that 63% of women surveyed who work in the (female-dominated) informal sector have lost their jobs since the beginning of the pandemic. Only 11% of men reported increases in the amount of time spent carrying out at least 3 activities related to unpaid domestic work; in comparison, the percentage for women was 41%. The increased poverty rate is affecting women, girls, and marginalised groups such as IDPs and people with disabilities more than ever.

On a communication-specific front, IRC and UN Women report that, even before the current pandemic, millions of girls in Afghanistan were contending with poor-quality education and were not on course to meet minimum proficiency in basic reading and math; as a consequence, the rate of literacy among women is low (29.8% in 2019). Accordingly, the survey found that women are more likely to either not know about the pandemic, to find that COVID-19-related information came too late to enable adequate preparations, or find the provided information unclear, confusing, or contradictory.

Furthermore, there are gender differentials regarding primary sources of information on COVID-19. An estimated 17% of men identified the internet and social media as their main source of information on the pandemic, whereas this figure was only 7% for women. Data from a Rapid Communication Assessment conducted by REACH - Communities Information Access, Preferences, Needs, and Habits - indicate that 59% of female-headed households reported not owning a registered subscriber identification module (SIM) card, while 73% of female-headed households did not have any members who could read and write.

The publication concludes with a series of recommendations in light of the survey:

• Strengthen meaningful access to information on COVID-19, such as through awareness-raising programmes on COVID-19 prevention that seek to reach and engage women using low-literacy materials and modalities, as well as the safe mobilisation of female community members to deliver impactful and gender-sensitive messages.
• Reinforce referral pathways for women and adolescent girls to access lifesaving and resilience-based services, with a focus on access to female service providers.
• Ensure a space for discussing and strengthening nexus programming to increase coordination between humanitarian and development actors in COVID-19 response at the sectoral and national levels, including UN agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from Afghanistan and international NGO (INGOs), civil society and grassroots women's rights movements, and government stakeholders.
• Increase livelihood/economic empowerment programmes that address income/earning disparities between men and women, and boost female empowerment in terms of access to and coverage of resources.
• Integrate concrete gender analysis into the planning, development, and delivery of social protection measures, so as to ensure they extend beyond formal economy participation and are capable of reaching women in the informal sector and those engaged in unpaid care and domestic labour.
• Enhance integrated health responses, including on mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), reproductive and sexual health and rights, and mobile health.
• Ensure humanitarian interventions specifically address the needs of marginalised groups, including people living with disabilities and female-headed households - designed with and for these groups.
• Promote decision-making led by women and girls and co-ownership of programming, including lessons learned and the development of best practices.

IRC and UN Women also stress the need for greater investment of data on the gendered impacts of the pandemic. Vicki Aken, IRC Country Director in Afghanistan, said, "The meaningful participation of women at all levels, a focus on gathering and analyzing gender disaggregated data, and designated budgets to support the needs of women and girls are critical in ensuring they are not left further behind due to COVID-19."

Looking ahead, Aleta Miller, UN Women Representative in Afghanistan, opines that "Afghanistan stands the unique opportunity to build back stronger and better as the country approaches peace. But in order to do so, women must be the drivers and the beneficiaries of the response that tackles the vulnerabilities our report is flagging. All policies addressing the fallout of COVID-19 pandemic must be inclusive and transformative, addressing women's leadership and labour, both outside and within the home."