Covid-19: National Lockdowns and Social Distancing Exposes Gender Inequalities in the Market Places of Zimbabwe

Abstract

The day the earth stood still! This is a title of a western movie production that is pregnant with meaning in as much COVID-19 is concerned. However, this was not a matter of a day as days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months. Lives have been turned upside down for the entire human race. Different economic statuses have also had both negative and positive impact on families the world over. Female breadwinners are facing difficulties in trying to look after families during this COVID-19 environment. The African continent found itself on the receiving end and had to systematically respond to this global pandemic through the announcements of closing borders and lockdowns in a bid to combat the spread of the deadly virus. Several gender policies and instruments have been put in place to create gender responsive environments. It is while implementing these measures that the Zimbabwean societies have realised that the female bread winners are on the losing side as most of their activities are directly affected by the se covid-19 safety measures. It is on this background that this paper is underpinned to demonstrate the vulnerability of the females on the market places. The study which is informed by qualitative research, made use of document analysis. In addition deep structured interviews with female breadwinners. Due to social distancing measures all interviews were conducted online. The paper also put in place recommendations that can be implemented during and after covid-19 period, so that there is gender equity in the market places.