The Lost Girls of Covid

The pandemic is erasing decades of progress in young women’s health, education, and independence in developing nations.

Photo by Nichole Sobecki

Hello readers,

I wanted to share my latest magazine story, The Lost Girls of Covid, which is out in Bloomberg Businessweek today. Reported in Kenya with gorgeous photographs from Nichole Sobecki, it's a look at how global Covid shutdowns have set back girls' progress around the world. 

For the last 25 years, girls were on an upward trajectory: staying in school longer, getting married and having babies later, living healthier and more prosperous lives. The last two years have reversed many of those gains in a shadow epidemic that has been tougher on girls than boys and harder on women than men, creating a series of setbacks that could ripple on for generations. While it's still too early to calculate the magnitude of this slow-moving disaster, it's entirely possible that in many developing countries, the deaths, diseases, and long-term health problems stemming from pandemic-related shutdowns and financial collapses could outnumber those from Covid itself. 

And girls are at Ground Zero. 

I’m especially thrilled that this story found a home in Businesseweek. So often, the wellbeing of girls and women is treated as a “soft” issue, so I’m really grateful that the editors over at Businessweek understand that this is both a question of basic humanity and a pressing issue for the future of the global economy.

I hope you’ll take the time to read this piece and, if you think it’s important, share it. Thank you as always for reading.

xx Jill