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The reality women face when fleeing violence-torn countries during a pandemic

October 20, 2020
Women for Women International - DRC
WfWI-DRC
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Audry _Shematsi

On March 23, UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres called for an immediate global ceasefire in response to Covid-19, urging: "It is time to put armed conflict on lockdown and focus together on the true fight of our lives."

But six months on, the appeal for global unity and solidarity has had little impact on levels of violence worldwide.

My country, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is one of many conflict-affected countries where armed violence has surged in recent months, driving thousands from their homes in the midst of a deadly public health emergency.

In the eastern provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri, intercommunal violence and strife between rebel groups killed around 1,300 civilians in the first half of 2020 —more than three times the number recorded during the same period last year. This includes the July 16 massacre in Kipupu village of South Kivu, which claimed the lives of over 200 people. According to reports, militias burned down houses, attacked civilians with guns and machetes, and raped women attempting to flee.

In South Kivu alone – the province where I work—this latest wave of violence has uprooted 110,000 people from their homes since January, adding to the 1 million people already displaced here.

Most of which are women and children.

After decades of conflict in the region, many women and their families have been displaced multiple times after surviving recurrent attacks, with devastating impacts on their livelihoods, health, and sense of security. Until recently, we had also been battling a deadly Ebola outbreak lasting nearly two years, which was finally declared over in June.

Now, the impacts of Covid-19 are taking their toll.

With limited access to health services, displaced women face heightened risks during pandemics. In addition, recent violence is compounding difficulties accessing health care. According to UNICEF, 10 health centres in South Kivu have been looted and destroyed during recent clashes, while another 18 were abandoned by medical staff fleeing violence.

As pressures mount on our fragile health system, resources are being diverted from sexual and reproductive health services, leaving women even more vulnerable at a time when violence against women and girls is on the rise. Gender-based violence has always been a pervasive feature of DRC's decades-long conflict, and this latest surge of attacks is no different.

There have been more than 400 victims of conflict-related sexual violence so far this year, with both rebel groups and government forces accused of atrocities. Meanwhile, intimate partner violence – already prolific and normalized in DRC – is surging during the current crisis. This is a pattern that has been seen in previous Ebola outbreaks in West Africa.

Despite these severe threats to livelihood, women in DRC are playing critical roles in preventing and responding to Covid-19, just as they did during the Ebola outbreak. Every day, I witness how women's roles as caregivers within their communities make them highly effective health messengers. This is within areas where fear and suspicion of authorities is rife after decades of conflict, corruption and abuses.

Policymakers should learn vital lessons from the importance of investing and including women in decision-making for policies to have a real impact on the lives of the most marginalized. A successful, sustainable ceasefire in DRC must center around the experiences and voices of those who are most affected by conflict in their everyday lives.

Malanga, a graduate of our 12-month program in South Kivu, summed up her vision for her community in the following way:

"I expect to see women taking courage to speak freely and express their opinions in front of men… to see women generating income and making savings without any discrimination and women defending their rights.

My hope for the future is to see women have access to land and rights to inheritance, to see women participating in mixed meetings with men to decide on community matters…Women's leadership is important because it allows women to advocate for other women and children, as well as ending discrimination against women."

Apart from the graduate program, Malanga has been assisting with Covid-19 response activities.

As global leaders seek a lasting ceasefire that will protect and empower marginalized women, and allow countries like DRC to be better after the pandemic. It is Malanga's definition of security, stability and opportunity that they should aspire to implement.

With support from Players of the People's Postcode Lottery, 350 women will be graduating from our 12-month social and economic empowerment programme in DRC this year. During the training, women learn about their rights and share their knowledge with others in their community, creating environments where women's contributions are valued and heard.

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Can tech help female entrepreneurs break the bias?

Women founders continue to come up against common challenges and biases
Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

Written by Kelly Devine, Division President UK & Ireland, Mastercard

Starting a business may have historically been perceived as a man’s game, but this couldn’t be further from reality. Research shows women are actually more likely than men to actively choose to start their own business – often motivated by the desire to be their own boss or to have a better work-life balance and spend more time with their family.

The recently published Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurship 2021 found that in the category of 'Aspiration Driven Entrepreneurship’ – capturing those who actively choose to start their own business – women in the UK surpass men: 60% vs 56%. And Mastercard research from February 2022 found 10% of female business owners started their business in the past two years compared to 6% of men – meaning women were 67% more likely to have started a business during the pandemic.

Yet, there are common challenges that women founders continue to come up against - not least the gender imbalance in the household and long-held biases which are still prevalent.

In the UK, women are almost three times more likely to be balancing care and home commitments than men, and this was exacerbated during the pandemic as the additional barriers of school closures and lockdowns meant that the care time of dependents rose significantly on a day-to-day level for women. In addition, women were less likely to have access to a home office, greatly impacting the work they were able to accomplish when working from home was the only option.

It's also widely known that female business owners are still more likely to struggle to access funding for their business ideas. According to Dealroom, all-women founding teams received just 1.4% of the €23.7bn invested into UK start-ups in 2021, while all-male leadership teams have taken almost 90% of the available capital.

Without financial support, and when juggling significant time pressures both at home and at work, how can women grow their companies and #BreaktheBias (as this year’s International Women’s Day termed it)? What tools or support can save them time and money, and give them the headspace they need to focus on building their business?

With female owned businesses collectively estimating revenue growth of £120 billion over the next five years, solving this problem is bigger than supporting women – it’s about supporting the national economy.

Using tech to level the playing field

There are clearly societal issues at play that need to be resolved. But when we look at the rise in technology businesses during the pandemic, we can plainly see an alternative source of support critical for business growth: digital tools.

A third of female business owners say new technologies will be crucial to the success of their business in the future and one in five say it is the most important thing for business growth.

With new technology comes new ways to pay, create, and work. And yet there are barriers that prevent business owners accessing this technology. Women are significantly more likely to say they want to use more digital tools but don’t know what is best for their business and also more concerned about the security of digital tools.

When technology is adopted by businesses – whether using online accounting solutions or messenger services for communicating with staff – it saves them time, allows them to maintain and grow their customer base, and ultimately increases cost savings and profit.

By drastically improving the training and support that is available to women-owned business to access and utilise technology we will allow these businesses to grow and succeed. And we know there is demand for it.

Research done by the IFC and Dalberg shows that female entrepreneurs are more likely to invest time and money in business development. This includes product development, customer base expansion, and digital tools and training and there are plenty of services available offering this type of support – many of them for free.

One such programme is Strive UK – an initiative of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth – which aims to reach 650,000 micro and small business owners across the UK and empower them with the tools they need to thrive in the digital economy through free guidance, helpful tools and one-to-one mentoring.

Working together with small business experts – Enterprise Nation, Be the Business and Digital Boost – we hope to ensure hundreds of thousands of UK female business owners have the tools they need to succeed and reach their ambitious goals. Because this ambition remains strong in the UK, with female business owners largely optimistic about the future despite the multitude of challenges they are facing. Four in ten say they will grow their business in the next five years – compared to only a third of male business owners – and they’re also 35% less likely than men to say they plan to downsize or close the business.

But if we do not empower female entrepreneurs to access the tools and technology they need to grow, there is a risk this optimism could be misplaced. Support programmes that provide business owners with guidance and mentorship can help ensure this isn’t the case, allowing female entrepreneurs to not only survive but thrive in the months and years ahead.