How can women break prejudice?

Since 1911, societies around the world have dedicated days, months, and even decades (this in the case of Africa) to celebrating the achievements of women and promoting solutions to new and persistent challenges.

But in the last two years, the covid-19 pandemic has expanded the plight of women to disproportionate proportions, starkly underlining the urgency of this year's International Women's Day theme: “Break With the prejudices".

The obligation to fulfill this duty falls on us, the women of the world.

Drawing on our own resourceful intelligence, we must shift our focus, update our global discourse, and be the ones to usher in a new era of female leadership.

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UN Women Director: "Gender-based violence is a shadow pandemic, as devastating as the coronavirus"

There is no doubt that women have borne the brunt of the costs of the pandemic.

Many were forced into confinement to avoid a silent enemy that we now know is less lethal than the women's own closest relatives.

Many were victims of what UN Women calls the “shadow pandemic”, as they suffered beatings, rape, insults and psychological trauma in what should have been a safe haven from a biological scourge.

Among the most disconcerting statistics from this period is one that documents the number of those who neither experienced nor witnessed domestic violence: one in ten.

You read that right: in Liberia, during the covid-19 lockdown, only one in ten respondents reported that they had not witnessed sexual or gender-based violence, and two in ten said they had not suffered it.

Among the most disconcerting statistics is one that documents the number of women who did not experience or witness domestic violence: one in ten

There is a clear inverse correlation between education and susceptibility to sexual and gender-based violence.

Less educated cohorts are generally more vulnerable, because they tend to have a low level of control in the economic and political realms, as well as little access to health systems that could detect and address risks.

These women suffer alone but together, listening to the cries of other women through windows and walls.

Despite the structural disadvantages we face, women have risen to the occasion.

As rulers, we have quickly put in place unpopular but undoubtedly effective measures to curb the spread of covid-19.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is one of many leaders pushing the boundaries of mental acuity and determination to save lives.

From Ethiopia, Germany and Slovakia to Denmark, Namibia and Finland, the 21 female heads of state and government who were in office when the pandemic broke out led the attack on it.

And they did so with transparency and integrity, outperforming their male counterparts as they implemented effective public health policies.

As rulers, women have quickly established unpopular, but undoubtedly effective, measures to stop the spread of covid-19

Health systems also benefited from female leadership.

The CEO of the Liberian General Services Agency, Mary Broh, has shown unwavering tenacity.

She set up web-based tracking tools to take stock of Covid-19 cases, treatments, vaccines and supplies, and led a city-wide cleanup campaign in Monrovia ahead of the bicentennial celebrations. from the country.

Liberian women broke protocols and traditions to save lives, bridging the gaps between time-honored traditional systems and the needs of the moment.

While others focused solely on the pandemic, women leaders took the lead in establishing maternity centers at covid-19 care points, thereby minimizing infant mortality.

They also requested the support of religious communities to establish testing centers, thus expanding the network of outbreak control points.

Throughout the pandemic, women have shattered the myth that strategies based on compassion and consensus building are weak and ineffective.

Being adaptable and sensitive to the demands of the moment, leaders have used these qualities to build unity and support around life-saving behaviors.

Instead of being defeated by the double standards imposed on women, women leaders have remained humble, diligent and collegiate.

But, above all, they have been consistent and determined.

We have also been learning from our experiences how to accurately assess the uneven social and political terrain in which we operate, so that we can more strategically address our circumstances.

In addition to sharpening our level of awareness about the difference between pandemic and endemic, between covid-19 and the flu, we have also given greater attention to sexual and gender-based violence.

This problem has long been considered endemic: a cyclical scourge that flows from the honeymoon to the hospital.

Now we should treat it the same way we treat a virus.

That means isolating perpetrators and bringing them to justice, setting up systems to detect and address cases, and engaging with communities to stop the spread.

We must devise curative and preventive measures that include men and boys for a lasting cultural transformation to take place.

We must take advantage of the indirect and enormous force against violence that can be exerted by women who are politically and economically empowered

The post-pandemic road is long.

Navigating it requires perseverance and good strategic judgment that women possess.

We must direct our efforts and reform the social and justice systems that have left us at the mercy of the wolves, and we must harness the indirect and outsized force against violence that can be exerted by women who are politically and economically empowered.

We must fill parliaments and government offices with women, creating a critical mass that can change paradigms related to justice, peace, security and health.

The breakdown of prejudices may not lead to an immediate ceasefire in domestic settings.

But with more women leaders at all levels and in all sectors, we will gradually increase our collective access to education, paid employment, and all other resources needed to help women escape violence.

If you are a woman reading this, we challenge you to consider taking a public leadership role, beginning within your own community.

We challenge you and we believe in you.

The world is at your fingertips and conquering it is up to you.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

is a Nobel Peace Prize winner, former President of the Republic of Liberia, and founder of the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development.

is head of the financial markets development section of the Central Bank of Liberia and a member of the IFC-Milken Institute's Capital Markets Program.

Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2022.  

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