United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has used Covid-19 Global Gender Response Tracker to monitor status of governments across the world in effecting gender-sensitive policies relating to social protection, violence against women, economic and fiscal and labour market including unpaid care.
Out of the 55 African countries, 52 have at least one gender-sensitive measure.
In Kenya, only three out of the nine measures taken by the government are gender-sensitive and are limited to social protection and mitigating violence against women.
Of the three is President Uhuru Kenyatta's directive to National Crime Research Centre (NCRC) in July, to probe rise in teenage pregnancies and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV).
Others are the Kazi Mtaani and National Hygiene Program (NHP) announced by Mr Kenyatta on April 25, and National Safety Net Program (NSNP) under which more than one million Kenyans benefited.
While NHP ensured the female were part of the beneficiaries, NSNP prioritised giving cash to the women in benefitting households.
Meanwhile, Egypt leads with the most gender-sensitive policies that cut across freeing women from violence, advancing their social protection and promoting their participation in the labour market.
Of the total 38 Covid-19 responses, 21 are gender specific. On addressing violence against women, for instance, the government, in April, launched 'Stop the Bullying, Corona virus is not a crime' campaign to raise public awareness about the social stigma associated with Covid-19.
Meanwhile in Zimbabwe, eight of the 10 Covid-19 responses are gender-sensitive. However, all the eight measures aim at tackling violence against women.
In Rwanda, out of the nine actions taken by the government, five are gender-sensitive. They relate to protecting women and girls from violence as well as ensuring their access to sexual and reproductive health services is undisrupted.
The government reviewed its Community-Based Health Insurance, facilitating immediate use of the scheme upon subscription. Women, therefore, enjoyed the ease of receiving family planning, antenatal and postnatal care and childbirth professional care during the pandemic.
Other poorly performing countries are Tunisia with only six gender-sensitive measures out of 22. Senegal, two out of 13, Cameroon, two out of seven and Liberia, one out of five.
Source: Nation
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