India, July 10 -- After the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, a term called "tsunami marriages" was in use to describe 'forced early marriages' of young girls to older men. There were reports of girls who survived the disaster being under pressure to have more children to replace those who died. Similar consequences were meted out to the women survivors of the Union Carbide Gas Leak in 1984 in Bhopal that is seen as the world's worst industrial disaster. Some who became infertile as a consequence were even beaten and abused.
Disasters affect everyone, but they always affect women and girls disproportionately, and the coronavirus pandemic is no different.
According to a UNESCO estimate, nearly 321 million children are staying at home since...