Gender Research 4 COVID-19

The Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), in conjunction with the Secretary of State for Citizenship and Equality, and with the support of the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality (CIG), has awarded special support, "Gender Research 4 COVID 19," to projects and initiatives that enable the production and dissemination of knowledge about the gender impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the dissemination of contingency plans and measures adopted to contain and resolve it.

Every historical moment of crisis, whether environmental, health-related, or economic and financial, and every system of gender relations, imposes specific demands on women and men. No crisis is gender-neutral, causing different impacts during and after its occurrence. It is therefore necessary to understand the demands faced by women and men due to the contextualized configurations of gender regimes and the demands and modes of response to the crisis. One of the fundamental dimensions to be taken into account is the division of the public and private spheres, of production and reproduction between women and men, and this is a crisis that places care at the center of health, political, economic, and financial concerns. Women are at the forefront of the response to the pandemic, as health professionals, social support workers, cleaners, scientists, researchers, and mobilizers; as working mothers, they are also particularly affected by the demands of balancing care and support for children whose schools and daycare centers have closed. Another level of impact of the pandemic crisis will be on the economy and the functioning of the labor market, with different effects expected on women in terms of employment, unemployment, and working conditions, exacerbated by the strong gender segregation of professions and sectors of activity. Finally, times of crisis are generally associated with an increase in violence against women and domestic violence, with the increased risk of violence being closely linked to the situation of uncertainty and confinement in which families find themselves and to difficulties in accessing formal and informal support networks.

The studies produced within the framework of this support should contribute to the production of knowledge about these different impacts, the constraints imposed by gender relations on individual, family, economic, and health responses to the pandemic, and their future effects, and to the presentation of response and intervention tools.

Results

The FCT has published a brochure presenting the16 projects selected under the special support for R&D projects "Gender Research 4 COVID 19, " which is available in digital format.

An online workshop was held on March 23 and 24, 2021. The sessions of the online workshop "Gender Research 4 COVID-19" are available to view here.