Gender Equality and Public Policy during COVID-19

Abstract

The outbreak of COVID-19 has affected men and women worldwide. The gender dimension of COVID-19 has attracted the attention of researchers and policymakers: while women seem to be less severely hit by the virus and are more compliant with the restricting rules imposed to reduce the spread of the contagion, they risk to suffer more the economic consequences of the pandemic, because they are more vulnerable on the labor market and because they are carrying on most of the burden of housework and childcare which increased substantially during the lockdown. Public policies are required to address the emergency and to deal with its gender implications. Anecdotal evidence suggests that women leaders have performed better than men in dealing with the emergency. This paper explores the evidence on the gender dimension of the pandemic under a new perspective proposed by Profeta (2020) , focused on the double relationship between gender equality and public policy: on one side, I show which policies can support gender equality in times of COVID-19 and, on the other side, I explore whether women leadership can promote successful measures. While the evidence provided is only suggestive, future studies should assess causal relationships. (JEL codes: J16 and J18)

Analysis of Covid-19 Hospital Admissions in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine

“…In our opinion, this may be due to gender-specific health behaviour [25]. On the other hand, this trend was noticeable at the beginning of the pandemic, when the infection spread was slow, and its natural circulation and negative health effects were not fully established [26][27][28]. This hypothesis has been confirmed by the analysis of sex-disaggregated mortality data and is consistent with other studies [12,29,30].…”

Gender Equality and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Labour Market, Family Relationships and Public Policy

“…The pandemic has deepened pre-existing inequalities, particularly gender inequality. Even if regional variations exist, evidence suggests that women have generally been more vulnerable to social and economic risks and harder hit by the consequences of the pandemic (see for instance, Profeta, 2020a;Profeta, 2020b;Alon et al, 2020).…”

The Crisis Management Experiences of Female Media Leaders During The Pandemic

“…Jumlah perempuan meninggalkan pekerjaan lebih tinggi dibandingkan laki-laki (Edward, 2020) Perempuan lebih berisiko menderita akibat ekonomi dari pandemi, karena mereka lebih rentan di pasar tenaga kerja dan karena mereka menanggung sebagian besar beban pekerjaan rumah dan pengasuhan anak yang meningkat secara substansial selama penguncian. Kebijakan publik diperlukan untuk menangani keadaan darurat dan untuk menangani implikasi gendernya (Profeta, 2020). Sebuah meta-analisis dari 40 studi dalam paradigma Schein mengungkapkan bahwa, selama bertahun-tahun, orang-orang telah memperoleh harapan yang lebih kuat bahwa para pemimpin memiliki sifat komunal dan juga sifat agen (Koenig et al, 2011).…”