This issue of Feminist Africa reflects on both the impact of COVID-19 on African women and African women’s responses to the pandemic. As a continent, Africa has endured decades of economic, political and social crises. Since the colonial period, the continent has been a primary commodity producer, supplying the world with both mineral resources such…
Category: Feminist Africa: Vol.3 Issue 1- African Women’s Lives in the Time of a Pandemic
A Female Inventor Ahead of her Time – Akosua K. Darkwah speaks with Veronica Bekoe
African scientists have responded to the pandemic by developing a range of largely low-tech innovations to either ease testing/treatment or assist with adherence to the containment measures imposed by various states. In Dakar, Senegal, students built a multifunctional robot that helped caregivers treat patients while minimising the risk of infections; in Nigeria, another student built…
Bouncing Back and Developing Elasticity During the Covid-19 Pandemic: Exploring Intergenerational Partnerships and Interventions among Grassroots Women’s Organisations to Address COVID-19-Related Challenges in Rural Western Cape, South Africa
by Vainola Makan and Wendy Pekeur “With the emergence of collaborative efforts between younger and oldercommunities in online spaces, we see the power of intergenerationalcooperation. When we coalesce to discuss solutions and mobilisetogether, there are new and reimagined opportunities to wield ourcollective knowledge and resources to tackle COVID-19 and othersystemic injustices of social exclusion and…
Addressing the Needs of People with Disability During the COVID-19 Pandemic – Akosua K. Darkwah speaks with Comfort Mussa
The World Health Organization estimates that 15% of the world’s population has a disability of one form or the other (WHO, 2021). With a population of approximately 1,390,000,000 people on the African continent (Worldometer, n.d.), this translates to 220,000,000 or roughly the entire population of Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation. Life for Africa’s citizens with…
The Struggle is Real: Fighting the Sexual and Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Pandemic in the time of COVID-19
by Vicci Tallis and Tracy Jean-Pierre The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified women’s multiple vulnerabilities. The economy has reportedly lost about 3 million jobs since the start of the lockdown. Two-thirds of these jobs belonged to women. Women make up the majority of those employed in the informal sector, the sector hardest hit by the pandemic….
The Response of the Women’s Fund Tanzania Trust During COVID-19
by Shamillah Wilson IntroductionIn the 21st century, the African continent faces complex questions of social, economic, and political resilience. In the more than 25 years since the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, there have been numerous advances in gender equality within national and international institutions, legal frameworks and policy mandates, as well as…
COVID-19 Recovery and Beyond: An African Feminist Vision for Macroeconomic System Change
by Wangari Kinoti and Fatimah Kelleher This article provides an analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on the lives of women in Africa and the extent to which government policies designed to respond to the social and economic shocks caused by the pandemic have addressed wider, persistent gender inequalities. We argue that while there have…
A Tale of Two Worlds amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic: Is a New More Just Economic Order Possible?
by Leah Eryenyu “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age ofwisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it wasthe epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season ofDarkness, it was the spring of hope, it…
Negotiating Spaces, Exercising Agency, and Managing Multiple Roles: The Lived Experiences of University of Ghana Women Academics under COVID-19
by Mjiba Frehiwot, Deborah Atobrah and Irene Appeaning-Addo This article interrogates the lived experiences of women academics at the University of Ghana (UG) between March 2020 and March 2021. It highlights their emotions and care decisions as they navigated through the multiple spheres of their lives – physical, emotional, and financial – while meeting the…
Gender Blind Spots in COVID-19 Containment and Mitigation Measures in Burkina Faso and Ghana
by Akosua K. Darkwah, Dorte Thorsen and Madeleine Wayack Pambè AbstractThis article unpacks the gendered impacts of the containment and mitigation measures adopted in many countries to deal with the pandemic. Based on detailed data on the inclusivity of measures taken to contain the outbreak of COVID-19 in Burkina Faso and Ghana and the mitigation…