Better stories for a gender equal and fairer social recovery from outbreaks: learnings from the RESISTIRÉ project

When Sociotechnical Imaginaries Become True: Digital Transition of Public Services and Inequalities during the Pandemic

“…The goal of improving the digital public services is also evident in the EC's Digital Single Market strategy of May 2015 9 and in the recent Digital Compass, 10 presented in March 2021, which lays out the vision for Europe's digital transformation by 2030. Among other things, the document sets the goal that by 2030 there will be 100 percent online provision of key public services available for European citizens and businesses, 100 percent of European citizens will have access to medical records (e-records), and 80 percent of citizens will use a digital ID solution.…”

“…The COVID-19 pandemic, with the sudden need for digitalizing many services to avoid isolation and the interruption of important activities (e.g., work and education), highlighted how the reality is more complex than the imaginary, particularly for people who are vulnerable in relation to gender, sex, age, socioeconomic background, nationality, disability, or ethnicity/race [7,8]. First of all, the consequences of the pandemic on the health and organization of people's lives were more severe when interacting with these vulnerabilities and the intersections between them (e.g., [9][10][11]). For instance, some minorities, such as the Roma people in Romania [12], experienced greater restrictions than other people living in the same country because of stigma and discrimination.…”