Abstract
Epidemics and pandemics, like COVID-19, are not gender neutral. Much of the current work on gender, sex, and COVID-19, however, has seemed implicitly or explicitly to be attempting to demonstrate that either men or women have been hardest hit, treating differences between women and men as though it is not important to understand how each group is affected by the virus. This approach often leaves out the effect on gender and sexual minorities entirely. Believing that a more nuanced approach is needed now and for the future, we brought together a group of gender experts to answer the question: how are people of different genders impacted by COVID-19 and why? Individuals working in women’s, men’s, and LGBTQ health and wellbeing wrote sections to lay out the different ways that women, men, and gender and sexual minorities are affected by COVID-19. We demonstrate that there is not one group “most affected,” but that many groups are affected, and we need to move beyond a zero-sum game and engage in ways to mutually identify and support marginalized groups.
Highlights
Epidemics and pandemics, like COVID-19, are not gender neutral (Wenham et al, 2020a)
Believing that a more nuanced approach is needed and will be in the long term, we brought together a group of gender experts to answer the question: how are people of different genders impacted by COVID-19 and why? We need to understand that sex and gender are different, and that when studying gender, it is necessary to move beyond binary approaches which place people into distinct categories
Each section below has been written by individuals working in the field of women’s, COVID-19 Impacts by Gender men’s, and LGBTQ health and wellbeing
Summary
Like COVID-19, are not gender neutral (Wenham et al, 2020a). Much of the current work on gender, sex, and COVID-19, has seemed implicitly or explicitly to be attempting to demonstrate that either men or women have been hardest hit, while often leaving out the effect on gender and sexual minorities entirely (Bwire, 2020; Wenham et al, 2020b). Believing that a more nuanced approach is needed and will be in the long term, we brought together a group of gender experts to answer the question: how are people of different genders impacted by COVID-19 and why? We need to use an intersectional approach (Bowleg, 2012; Bowleg, 2020; Griffith, 2012), which explores how gender intersects with other social stratifiers including race, age, income, disability, sexual orientation—to better understand and address individual and group experiences and effects of the pandemic
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