Women
WRITE
LIFE
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed longstanding health inequities faced by vulnerable populations, especially women and older persons. Research on the impact of work on women's health is limited in low to middle-income countries. To address this gap, we will work with our Canadian, Kenyan, and Uganda teams to give voice to the concerns, needs, and ideas of women and seniors for recovery beyond COVID-19. Our innovative approach will prioritize their voices, ensure equity and inclusion, and be based on shared decision-making. Through this research project, we aim to translate knowledge into action for women to write their own futures beyond the pandemic.
Building Back Stronger:
Empowering Women for a Sustainable Future
Our proposal outlines an action-oriented research program that addresses women's health, work, and well-being across the life course to empower women and build a sustainable economy and environment post-COVID-19.
Using an innovative methodology that prioritizes the voices of women and policymakers, the research will lead to evidence-informed policy and practice-making. The program will employ a transdisciplinary approach and a parallel case study design to facilitate comparisons of results and mobilization of learnings between two research sites.
Collaborating Institutions
Dr Diana M.S. Karanja
Kenya
University of Waterloo
Prof. Susan J. Elliotts
Department of Geography & Environmental Management
Canada
Uganda
Kenneth Mugayehwenkyi
Objective 1
How are women doing?
This will examine associations between work (both paid and unpaid) and health throughout the COVID-19 pandemic among women across the life course.
Objective 2
How empowered are women feeling?
Document levels of perceived empowerment among women across the life course.
Objective 3
What do women need to address their health and wellbeing issues and to feel more empowered?
Undertake deliberative dialogues with women across the life course as well as key stakeholders to design an intervention strategy for immediate and medium-term solutions for COVID-19 recovery at both the community and systems levels and to establish a foundation for women together that will help them address future (health, climate, civil) emergencies.
Funded by
Study area
This is a two-year study to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected women in rural and peri-urban communities in Kenya and Uganda. According to a recent survey conducted by the Population Council, 85% of respondents in these areas reported earning less than they did before the pandemic, with a quarter reporting complete loss of income and 57% reporting partial loss. Women were more likely to report complete loss of income, while men were more likely to report partial loss. Overall, any loss of income was higher among women.
The survey also found that women took on more unpaid labor after the pandemic began, with 55% of women reporting doing more cooking compared to 24% of men, 50% reporting fetching more water compared to 17% of men, 69% reporting doing more cleaning compared to 19% of men, and 64% reporting doing more childcare compared to 53% of men. Additionally, 89% of participants reported increasing costs of food, 72% reported increasing costs of cooking fuel, and 79% reported overall increased expenses for the household.
Given these findings, evidence-informed policies to address the health and economic issues faced by women in these communities will have a tremendous impact on these families and their communities in the immediate and medium term.
Study Context
This research project aims to create a platform where women can work together to achieve access to basic human rights, such as food, water, education, and healthcare, in order to address the socioeconomic and health inequalities that have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The study draws on feminist political ecologies of health to explore power imbalances in access to resources required for everyday life. The project recognizes that some populations, such as women and older persons, are more vulnerable than others and seeks to address these inequities.
The team will use integrated knowledge mobilization techniques that prioritize the voices and ideas of those most affected. The research methodology will include data collection processes that privilege women's voices, sharing research results with participants to ensure meaningful findings, and deliberative dialogues with policy makers and stakeholders to create a link between knowledge and action. The aim is to explore both sides of the coin of privilege and to disrupt existing inequities to achieve transformative change.
Stephanie Nixon, a scholar in public health, has argued that recognizing privilege is essential for creating transformative change that promotes equity. The team hopes to make a difference in this regard by using an approach that prioritizes the voices of marginalized groups and seeks to create meaningful change that will benefit those most affected.
Meet the team
Meet our team of passionate gender equality activists working to improve women's health, work, and well-being across the life course, and to build back stronger post-COVID-19.
Co-Principle Investigator
Diana Karanja
Cohesu
Kenya
Country Advisor
Kenneth Mugayehwenkyi
ROTOM
Uganda
Researcher
Abraham Nunbogu
University of Waterloo
Canada
Research Advisor
Warren Dodd
University of Waterloo
Canada
Research Advisor
Sarah Dickin
Stockholm Environment Inst
Stockholm
Post Doctoral
Edna Ototo
Cohesu
Kenya
Consultant - EDI-J
Sophie Jama
TruVoice Consultants
Canada
Project Manager
Anne Burgoyne
University of Waterloo
Canada
Consultant - BioStatistician
Isaiah Omondi
Cohesu
Kenya
Project Manager
Justine Nagawa
ROTOM
Uganda
Post Doctoral
Andrea Rishworth
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IKT
Kelsey Ramsey
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Consultant - Tech
Daniel Sabwa
Cohesu
Kenya
Decision Maker
Emily Ajiambo
Assist. Commissioner Elderly and Disability
Uganda
Co-Principle Investigator
Susan Elliott
University of Waterloo
Canada
Co-Investigator
Katrina Plamondon
The University of British Columbia
Canada
Researcher
Elijah Bisung
Queen's University
Canada
Research Advisor
Isaac Luginaah
Western University
Canada
BioStatistician
Joseph Kangmennaang
Queen's University
Kenya
Masters Student
Satveer Dhillon
Western University
Canada
PhD Student
Joan Kaburia
University of Waterloo
Kenya
PhD Student
Cynthia Musah
University of Waterloo
Uganda
PhD Student
Cornelius Dassah
University of Waterloo
Canada
Project Manager
Bernard Abudho
Cohesu
Kenya
Account Manager
Nelson Obando
Cohesu
Kenya
Intern
Tyler Tukamuhabw
ROTOM
Uganda
Decision Maker
Frederick Oluoch
Director of Public Health
Kenya