GrOW videos: Gender and the world of work during the pandemic
Namusisi (left) and Umana pan samples of sand for gold at a mining site in central Uganda.
Building on the legacy of the recently concluded multi-funder Growth and Economic Opportunities for Women (GrOW) program, IDRC, in partnership with The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, recently launched GrOW – East Africa, an action research initiative to advance gender equality in the world of work.
The COVID-19 pandemic became an unprecedented global crisis in the midst of the launch of GrOW – East Africa. The pandemic and its associated economic crisis have exposed deep structural inequalities around the world, with disproportionate effects on women and girls. These videos highlight the importance of considering the gender dimension in responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, with specific focus on the core themes of the newly launched GrOW – East Africa program: unpaid care work and the gendered segregation of the labour market.
GrOW – East Africa seeks to foster partnerships with public and private sector actors to identify and scale successful solutions to advance women’s economic empowerment. The goal is to enhance gender equality by economically empowering marginalized women through novel in-country knowledge, innovations, and solutions. These solutions are developed in partnership with in-country practitioners, governments, and researchers and focus on policies and programs that address unpaid care, sex segregation, and women’s employment in East Africa.