Megan Gieske is a storyteller and photographer based in Cape Town, South Africa.
In South Africa, women are at risk.
South Africa has one of the highest rates of violence against women and girls in the world, and a femicide rate that is five times the global average, with an estimated 12.1 in 100,000 victims each year. South Africa’s gender-based violence statistics (GBV) are equal to a country at war.
South Africa held its yearly 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence,...
Girls and Women
Africa launches the largest trials of treatments for mild and moderate COVID-19 cases, mayors join forces to tackle gender inequality, and UK cuts its aid budget. Plus, a look at which countries have gender-balanced cabinets.
Here are six crucial stories you may have missed this month.
Africa’s largest COVID treatment trial launches
A network of 13 African countries joined forces with global researchers to launch Africa’s largest clinical trial of potential COVID-19 treatments. The Anticov study aims to identify treatments for mild...
Edith Esinam Asamani-Wasie, a GPE Youth Advocate in Ghana, is weighing in on the realities of gender-based violence, especially during COVID-19, and the steps everyone can take to achieve gender equality.
The pandemic has socioeconomically affected more girls and women than boys and men. First, despite progress, there is still a gender disparity in access to education. The pandemic led to the closure of schools and movement of most physical classes to virtual platforms, where there is a gender digital...
Six years ago, 276 schoolgirls were kidnapped by armed men from their school in Northern Nigeria.
For such a horrific event, the identity of the girls was missing from the narrative. In the days and weeks following the tragedy, even as the story of their kidnapping found its way into the global consciousness via the “Bring back our girls” campaign, when it comes to the girls — who they were, what they liked, how they lived — they became a...
Megan Gieske is a storyteller and photographer based in Cape Town, South Africa.
On Steve Biko Street, taxi horns blare and horse carts trot down Gugulethu’s busy main road. But over a high wall, a woman has grown an oasis of green in the highly-developed, urban landscape of Gugulethu, where almost 100,000 share just 6.42km² (or 2.5 miles²) of land.
It’s here in Gugulethu where Nomonde Kweza, or “Mama Nomonde,” is reclaiming her agricultural heritage, and teaching her community to support...
Megan Gieske is a storyteller and photographer based in Cape Town, South Africa.
Ingrid and Enersh, two teenage girls in white button-downs, maroon jumpers, grey skirts, ankle-length socks, and matching black shoes, chat by the roadside on their way home from school. They hold backpacks that hang heavy on their shoulders with books and homework. The brilliance of their smiles stand out vividly against the afternoon light — young, hopeful, and full of promise.
Ingrid and Enersh are two of the...
Olaoluwa Abagun is an activist and founder of the Girl Pride Circle. Here’s her story about how COVID-19 has impacted girls in Nigeria, and her hope for the future.
For many young girls across Nigeria, their classrooms and schools have served as safe spaces – where they can interact with their peers, learn critical skills, and express their hopes and dreams without fear.
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated the closure of these safe spaces with very limited alternatives for learning...
Falling on 11 October, International Day of the Girl Child is a United Nations day that brings attention to “girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world.” Empowering young girls early in life can give them the “potential to change the world — both as the empowered girls of today and as tomorrow’s workers, mothers, entrepreneurs, mentors, household heads, and political leaders.”
However, as we’ve seen with previous health crises, COVID-19’s lingering economic and social impacts on...
Megan Gieske is a storyteller and photographer based in Cape Town, South Africa.
Two young men in Langa are taking a stand against gender-based violence by mentoring and educating young boys.
“We need to educate men about gender-based violence and gender equality, so women and young girls can be free,” explain the two co-founders of #LangaforMen, Siyabonga Khusela and Luyolo Lengisi.
Siyabonga and Luyolo are young, just 21 and 22. They started #LangaforMen in response to the violence against women they witnessed as...
Healthcare is being hit hard by the pandemic. COVID-19 has disrupted services for the prevention and treatment of noncommunicable diseases, could disrupt essential interventions for malaria, and has put an enormous amount of pressure on health systems.
But, as we’ve seen with education and work, the pandemic could have an even greater, disproportionate impact on healthcare for women and girls, specifically maternal, reproductive, and contraceptive care.
Here’s why.
Previous health crises impacts on women and girls’ health
Prior to COVID-19 in 2017, over...