We can no longer ignore Ebola’s wider impact – particularly on women | Jeanne Kamara | Global development | theguardian.com
▻http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2014/oct/14/ebola-women-sierra-leone
Women make up 51% of Sierra Leone’s population: they are the key to the country’s social and economic development. This is why gender activists and women’s advocacy groups in the country have joined forces in urging leaders to address the disproportionate effect of Ebola on the female population. It is estimated that 60% of the total fatalities in west Africa have been women (pdf); in Liberia, the figure is reportedly as high as 75%.
In Sierra Leone’s patriarchal society, women are the primary care-givers at home and in the community. Custom dictates that they tend to sick family members, nurse children and work as traditional healers and healthcare assistants. It is sisters, daughters, aunts, mothers and grandmothers who have selflessly cared for relatives infected with Ebola; unwittingly, they have put themselves at great risk.