by Lindsay Nygren, AWC Central Scotland
Being stuck indoors leaves a lot to be desired, especially during these long, cold winter nights. But in saying that, there’s so much that I still have access to in terms of resources, education and support. Since moving to Scotland I have noticed that in most, if not all, public female toilet areas, there are menstruation products available for anyone to take. As Scotland became the first country in the world to allow free and universal access to menstrual products, that’s really when I began to think of the reassurances that availability brings.
Past global crises have raised a host of concerns for young girls, including “increased early marriage, increased adolescent pregnancy, reduced access to health services, higher rates of dropouts among girls, less access to digital technology, and greater overall discouragement” (Acosta & Evans, 2020). The Center for Global Development has demonstrated that the loss of reproductive health education and services, combined with the loss of a safe space for young girls, is worsening the gap in equality of education. 
This pandemic has impacted plenty of efforts to advance the protection and education of young girls, especially in sexual and reproductive health services. Period poverty and the education gap that has been exacerbated by school closures has been brought to the forefront (Wong, 2021). Not only has an invaluable resource for young girls been cut off, but access to sexual health education and a safe space for young girls has been shut down and redirected in favor of COVID-19 related responses. For girls who relied on schools and other public spaces to receive period products, they are suddenly at a loss. Sexual health education, which is often taught in the transition to secondary school, is delayed or passed over in lieu of other essential courses (Heyes, 2020). At home, sexual violence, child marriages and education being less valued than household responsibilities are more likely (Burzynska & Contreras, 2020; Yousafzai, 2020). All of this is a combination likely to result in a significant number of girls not returning to school.
The effects of the pandemic are already exacerbating educational inequalities of race, gender, class and sexuality with future research likely to show that marginalized groups are the most heavily impacted (Heyes, 2020). That being said, a positive outcome of the pandemic is that we are seeing a boost in innovative ideas for the distribution of sexual health education and products (Rutgers, 2020). And while data is not available yet on the impact of COVID-19 on girls’ education and well-being, it is a losing battle to wait. The window of opportunity will continue to shrink unless proactive action is taken to ensure that young girls have the support and access to resources for continued education (Acosta & Evans, 2020). Moving forward, it is important to ensure that a targeted effort is made to get all girls back in the classroom. Policy responses which target sexual health and socioeconomic issues are needed to work for girls, not against them, in the continued commitment to bridge this gap in education.
References:
Acosta, A. M. & Evans, D., 2020. COVID-19 and Girls’ Education: What We Know So Far and What We Expect. [Online]
Available at: https://www.cgdev.org/blog/covid-19-and-girls-education-what-we-know-so-far-and-what-we-expect-happen
Burzynska, K. & Contreras, G., 2020. Gendered effects of school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lancet, Volume 395, p. 1968.
Fancy, K., 2021. Safeguarding girls’ education during and after COVID-19. [Online]
Available at: https://www.mottmac.com/views/safeguarding-girls-education-during-and-after-covid-19
Heyes, J., 2020. Identifying the potential impacts of Covid-19 on school-based sexuality education. [Online]
Available at: https://www.bera.ac.uk/blog/identifying-the-potential-impacts-of-covid-19-on-school-based-sexuality-education
[Accessed 9 February 2021].
Rutgers, 2020. Covid-19: Pandemic puts sexual health and rights under pressure. [Online]
Available at: https://www.rutgers.international/covid-19-pandemic-puts-sexual-health-and-rights-under-pressure
[Accessed 9 February 2021].
Wong, B., 2021. The COVID-19 Pandemic Is Making ‟Period Poverty” Worse. Huffington Post, 21 January, pp. 1–8.
Yousafzai, M., 2020. After Covid-19, millions of girls may not return to the classroom. We can help them. [Online]
Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/14/covid-19-global-education-crisis-girls-impacted
[Accessed 9 February 2021].
Photo Credit: Carol-Lyn McKelvey
