Rwanda joined the rest of the world to celebrate International Women’s Day on Monday, March 8, 2021. Organisations, businesses, families, and society, in general, took time to celebrate how far we have come in achieving gender equality. However, Covid-19 has reminded us that we still have a long way to go to challenge biases. When Covid-19 hit and lockdowns were put in place to slow its spread, reports of women having to bear the brunt were rife. Cases of domestic conflict increased and to make matters worse, leaving an abusive relationship during a lockdown was even more complicated for a society that frowns upon women leaving their marital homes. On the employment front, there were two main challenges; job loss is one of them. Experts argue that gender segregation in the labour market contributed to women finding employment in areas that were mostly affected by the pandemic. These include cross-border trade and foodservice chain. The other is the work-from-home directive that most employers put in place to keep their staff safe. In addition to doing their official duties while at home, there were other responsibilities such as domestic chores and childcare/home-schooling as everyone had to stay home. As we celebrate the achievements of women, it is imperative that we build on the existing efforts and policies to ensure that women are protected from unforeseen situations including pandemics. Take for example the construction sector. It was one of the areas that have resumed work after lockdowns are partially lifted. If contractors pledge to ensure a substantial percentage of workers are women, the rewards would be far-reaching. And, as a society, we must have more conversations about changing the mindset that domestic chores and child-care are the responsibility of the women only. If this was collectively perceived to be a shared responsibility, the work-from-home directives would not have placed extra responsibility on women. We must continually challenge such biases.
