Ebola brought many female community members opportunities in a country where women have long struggled to have their voices heard
A boy gets the Ebola vaccine in Butembo, the DRC. Picture: REUTERS/OLIVIA ACLAND
“I tried to make myself useful,” said the 39-year-old, one of hundreds of local women engaged in the response to the outbreak — for many, their first experience of paid employment.North Kivu has suffered more than 20 years of armed conflict — one of the biggest barriers to mounting an effective response to the last major outbreak, which killed more than 2,200 people before it was declared over last year, according to aid groups.
Female representatives account for only about 12% of the 500 seats in Congo’s national parliament and the country only gave women the right to vote in 1964 — four years after independence. A Thomson Reuters Foundation investigation with The New Humanitarian found that dozens of women who sought paid work with aid organisations working on the 2018-2020 Ebola crisis suffered sexual harassment or exploitation.
“I have truly experienced what we call women’s empowerment, thanks to the salary I got from the response,” she said.
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