Does the pandemic have a gender? An exploratory study about the Perceived Impact of COVID-19 measures on women and men in Ukraine and Belarus

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the perceived effects of COVID-19 containment policies in Ukraine and Belarus, focusing on how these policies disproportionately affected men and women due to societal gender roles and stereotypes. The study uses document analysis, interviews with gender experts and activists, and a survey of 109 respondents to explore the different quarantine behaviours of men and women in the two countries. The analysis reveals how the virus was handled differently in the two countries, with Ukraine implementing strict lockdowns while Belarus downplayed the severity of the virus. In addition, the survey analysis was based on four dimensions - economic, social, healthcare and well-being, and civic empowerment - contributing to uncovering citizens' perceptions of the implications of the pandemic in their daily lives. The paper concludes by providing policy recommendations to address the economic and social impacts of the pandemic, as well as ways to better manage future health crises by addressing gender-specific needs.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19 pandemic
• gender stereotypes
• policies
• Ukraine
• Belarus

Acknowledgement

Olga Matveieva and Vasil Navumau gratefully acknowledge that this work has been written within the framework of the Philipp Schwartz-Inititative with the support of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Olga Matveieva

Olga Matveieva holds a PhD in Public Administration. Dr Matveieva is a researcher at the Marie Jahoda Center for International Gender Studies of Ruhr-University Bochum and an Associate professor at the Dnipro University of Technology. Her expertise is in digital modernization reforms and civic activism for democracy through a gendered perspective. In addition, she is also an expert on the sustainable development policy of Ukraine, focusing on the digital literacy of men and women.

V. Navumau

Vasil Navumau holds a PhD in Sociology from the Graduate School for Social Research at the Polish Academy of Sciences and currently specializes in social activism in Eastern European countries (Ukraine and Belarus in particular), with an emphasis on the transformation of regional collective actions amid the all-round influence of contemporary ICTs and new trends in transnational activism.

D. Galego

Diego Galego holds a PhD in Social Sciences from KU Leuven Public Governance Institute, Belgium and Public Policies at the University of Aveiro, Portugal. He specializes in uncovering the impact of social movements on the policymaking process. In his book Queering Public Policy, Dr Galego explores the influence of Brazil’s LGBTQ+ movement on public policy.

A. Baraban

Anna Baraban is a journalist and civic activist at NGO “Ukrainian Expert Foundation”. She focuses on issues of gender equality and human rights.