To increase understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on girls and young women, as well as talking to girls in lockdown, Plan International has re-examined four previous studies of crises to try and get a clearer picture of the insecurity and vulnerability facing girls now.
The report draws specific lessons from their study of the Ebola crisis of 2014-2015 in West Africa where school closures and other measures to limit movement had damaging long-term effects on children and particularly girls.
- School closures in all crises have impacts beyond the direct loss of education: the loss of social contact, of the support of peers and teachers, of the opportunity to build networks for the future and the lack of access to sexual and reproductive health and rights information, all have negative effects on girls.
- Being forced to be at home makes children vulnerable to violence and abuse or makes them witness to the domestic violence that we know is increasing.