Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Child Marriage, Sexual and Reproductive Health, and Domestic Violence in India and Zambia

2019冠状病毒病大流行有可能严重减缓实现关于性别平等的第5项可持续发展目标的进展。因此，该研究项目旨在阐明该流行病对三个可持续发展目标的直接影响：家庭暴力（可持续发展目标具体目标5.2）、童婚（可持续发展目标具体目标5.3）以及性健康和生殖健康（可持续发展目标具体目标5.6）。这些影响将在印度和赞比亚进行调查，这两个国家都是全球性别不平等指数排名最低的国家，在这两个国家，PI和研究合作者可以依靠以往项目的牢固伙伴关系和数据收集基础设施。具体而言，该项目将对印度3000名15至18岁的少女进行抽样调查，方法是利用普纳市城市贫民窟社区和桑利市周边农村的家庭样本。此外，本研究将重新访问赞比亚南部Monze、Mazabuka和Kalomo地区的2500名女学生样本。通过利用covid -19前关于家庭粮食安全和生活水平的调查数据，我们将量化疫情对每位参与者及其家庭的经济影响。我们将利用这些见解来分析，家庭受这一流行病不利影响更大的少女是否有更高的遭受暴力、结婚或怀孕以及从事危险性行为的风险。通过采用混合方法，该项目还旨在研究非洲和南亚背景下的文化、政治和社会异质性如何影响流行病引发的冲击与结果指标之间的关系。例如，我们将评估印度非正规劳动者返回农村地区是否会因家庭过度拥挤和大量收入损失而增加家庭暴力的风险。我们还将探讨，在赞比亚，与大流行病有关的收入损失是否会导致人们为了收到彩礼而结婚（童婚），而在印度，是否会因为家庭无力支付大笔嫁妆而推迟结婚。最后，我们将研究封锁法律严格程度的差异是否对女孩的性行为和她们可能参与的交易性“生存性行为”有不同的影响。观察和衡量大流行病对确定的三个指标的短期影响至关重要，因为这些可能决定女孩的受教育机会和妇女未来的就业前景，从而产生长期后果，这可能在今后的研究项目中加以探讨。

The COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to severely slow down progress towards realising the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No. 5 on gender equality. This research project therefore aims to shed light on the pandemic's immediate impacts on three SDG targets: domestic violence (SDG target 5.2), child marriage (SDG target 5.3), and sexual and reproductive health (SDG target 5.6). These impacts will be investigated in India and Zambia, which are both among the lowest-ranking countries on the global Gender Inequality Index and in which the PI and research collaborators can rely on strong partnerships and data collection infrastructure from previous projects. Specifically, this project will sample 3000 adolescent girls aged 15-18 years in India, by drawing on previous household samples from urban slum communities in the city of Pune and rural villages surrounding the city of Sangli. In addition, a previous sample of 2500 school girls in the districts of Monze, Mazabuka, and Kalomo in Southern Zambia will be revisited for this study. By drawing on pre-COVID-19 survey data on households' food security and living standards, we will quantify the economic repercussions that the pandemic had for each participant and their families. We will use these insights to analyse whether adolescent girls whose families have been more adversely affected by the pandemic exhibit a higher risk of experiencing violence, of being married or pregnant, and of engaging in risky sexual behaviours. By adopting a mixed-methods approach, the project also aims to examine how cultural, political, and societal heterogeneities between the African and Southern Asian context affect the relationship between pandemic-induced shocks and outcome indicators. For instance, we will assess whether the return of informal labourers to rural areas in India may increase the risk of domestic violence due to household overcrowding and substantial income losses. We will also explore whether pandemic-related income losses translate into preponement of (child) marriages to receive bride prices in Zambia and to delays of marriages in India due to families’ inability to meet substantial dowry payments. Lastly, we will examine whether variances in the strictness of lockdown laws have different implications for girls’ sexual behaviour and their possible engagement in transactional “survival sex”. It is crucial to observe and measure the pandemic’s short-term impacts on the three identified indicators as these will likely determine girls’ educational opportunities and women’s employment prospects in the future and thus have long-run consequences, which may be explored in future research projects.