Gendered effects of school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic

Governments worldwide have implemented school closures as a preventive measure to the spread of COVID-19. According to UNESCO, school closures have sent about 90% of all students out of school, among them more than 800 million girls. A substantial number of these girls live in the world's least developed countries where getting an education is already a struggle. We agree with Hall and colleagues¹ who recognise girls as a vulnerable group in the COVID-19 pandemic, stress two issues hindering girls' education in developing countries, and challenge progress and commitment toward gender equality, girl empowerment, and the Sustainable Development Goals.

The first issue relates to sexual and reproductive health aspects, where teenage girls might disproportionately drop out of school due to an increased risk of sexual exploitation, pregnancy, and (forced) marriage. School closures during the Ebola outbreak were associated with an increase in teenage pregnancies.² Once schools re-opened, many “visibly pregnant girls”² were banned from going back to school. With schools closing throughout the developing world, where stigma around teenage pregnancies prevails, we will probably see an increase in drop-out rates as teenage girls become pregnant or married.

The second issue relates to socioeconomic aspects, where girls might spend less time studying or might drop out of school at higher rates than boys because of a disproportionate increase in unpaid household work. Girls aged 5–14 years already spend 40% more time doing household work than boys do.³ As girls stay at home because of school closures, their household work burdens might increase, resulting in girls spending more time helping out at home instead of studying. This might encourage parents, particularly those putting a lower value on girls' education, to keep their daughters at home even after schools reopen. Moreover, research shows that girls risk dropping out of school when caregivers are missing from the household because they typically have to (partly) replace the work done by the missing caregiver,⁴ who might be away due to COVID-19-related work, illness, or death. Therefore, with the current COVID-19 pandemic, we might see more girls than boys helping at home, lagging behind with studying, and dropping out of school.

We warn that school closures in this COVID-19 pandemic may bolster gender gaps in education and girl empowerment dampening any progress already made, particularly in developing countries. We call for public acknowledgment and discussion about the adverse effects school closures can have on widening of the schooling gap between girls and boys. We call for a gendered perspective in developing policy responses by tackling the sexual and reproductive health and socioeconomic issues addressed here to bring girls back to school after the measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic end. We also ask governments to collect data specifically on non-paid housework and childcare responsibilities frequently ignored when investigating the consequences of child labour. Addressing the health and socioeconomic issues girls might face during this pandemic, as well as collecting data to quantify their effects, are important in honouring the commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals.