The COVID-19 lockdown trapped women at their homes with their abusers and domestic violence rates spiked. India reported a 2.5 times increase in abuse reports like child marriage, cyber violence, and trafficking of women. In the first phase of the lockdown, some women organisations received more reports of domestic violence than they did in the last 10 years. 

Many women were unable to report their abusers as they had no privacy or access to immediate help. This alarming situation prompted the Government of India to classify domestic violence shelters and support shelters as essential.  

A few more challenges that surfaced since the start of the pandemic included gender inequality, lack of nutrition and hygiene, minimum access to mental health services among others. 

Deeksha, a young girl from Uttarakhand faced such inequality and witnessed more among her peers in her village. She explains that during the lockdown many girls were unable to pursue their studies. 

She says, “When classes were made online many girls dropped out of school because their families did not have a smartphone. Some homes had only phones for everyone to share. But, the boys were given priority to study, and the girls were forced to do extra household chores.” 

A plan for India

To address these issues and provide support, Plan India conducted a two-day conference - Plan for Every Child. Here, experts from various fields, child rights practitioners, government officials, and others discussed the issues on the ground to strategize a plan and build back better with girls. 

The conference hosted multiple sessions, presentations, and discussions on addressing the barriers for girls and young women. They also highlighted methods to get women to access inclusive and quality education, health services, child development, and mental well-being, essential medicines and vaccines, maternal and reproductive health care, food security, and nutrition.

With a focus on four thematic aspects -- Towards inclusive and quality education, food security and nutrition for all girls, ensuring mental and well-being for girls, and towards ending gender-based violence in all its forms, the delegates discussed the various challenges faced by women today. 

The speaker who chaired the discussion took notes, raised questions, and finally drafted out recommendations to ease the challenges faced by women.

Challenges faced by women and how to overcome them 

The session, towards inclusive and quality education, was chaired by Sanjai Bhatt, a professor of the Delhi School of Social Work, and had seven speakers. They highlighted one of the biggest barriers to education for girls in poverty. 

Either student cannot afford to go to school, or the schools do not have teachers and other resources to conduct classes. Poverty pushes families to make girl children drop out of school and get married. Dr Kanchan Devrari shared case studies from on the ground where girls studying in class 7 or 8 were married off to older men. Other speakers explained how these activities have also caused a spike in domestic violence. 

One of the repetitive issues that were highlighted by all the speakers was that there was a lack of awareness about the importance of education. Together, the speakers recommended that to empower the girl children there must be awareness spread among families, societies, and youngsters. 

The next thematic session on advancing gender equality in food security and nutrition for all girls was chaired by Dr. Indira Chakravarthy, a public health specialist. Six speakers highlighted the various issues on health and nutrition faced by girls in rural India. 

The speakers explained how most youngsters in rural areas are dependent on mid-day meals for their daily nutrition intake. However, with schools closed they were unable to get a healthy meal and many fell sick. Owing to familial conditions, the girls were unable to afford medication too. To reduce the financial burden on the family, parents marry girls at a young age or force them into sexual exploitation. 

As a remedy to this situation, the speakers suggested pragmatic action, nutrition interventions, protection measures, identifying a family's needs and providing them with financial support, and more. A special focus must be placed on pregnant women. They must be provided with emotional and medical support during her pregnancy and post her delivery.

The other thematic sessions were about ensuring mental health and well-being for girls and ending gender-based violence. Active discussions highlighted crucial issues such as the impact on a child’s mental well-being after she is forced to drop out of school, get married, or be denied opportunities. 

The speakers explained how many women face abuse in various forms but never get emotional support for their mental well-being. Together they agreed that mental health is to be viewed as a public health issue. 

To help these women, policy interventions are required, a safe environment for women, change the way men are growing, and educate them to respect women. 

Since education moved online, children as young as 12 or 13 are exposed to the internet. Most of them are unaware of the bad side of social media and are subject to cyber abuse, blackmail, and harassment. In the final thematic session, speakers highlighted how cyber crimes are on the rise among young girls and women. 

Many young girls had their pictures or videos shot by criminals using various software and fake profiles. These were circulated online through various websites along with defamatory content.  

To eliminate cyber violence against women, the speakers suggested some societal-level changes need to be implemented. It starts with looking inwards and identifying the gender stereotypes we have. Then, engaging men and boys in gender transformative practices, providing support to survivors of cyberbullying, and more. At the organizational level, like NGOs, a risk assessment must be conducted before intervening in cyber violence to avoid unintended escalation.