Covid-19 and women: a study on gender inequality and female governance

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact worldwide, affecting several countries at different levels. In many of these, old issues, related to gender disparities, have been especially widened, such as domestic violence, wage disparities, as well as the unequal distribution of work based on gender role. However, despite this scenario, the context of the social and economic crisis generated by the coronavirus also proved to be an opportunity for women to demonstrate the inconsistency of gender roles, since female leaders achieved better results in terms of death and infection rates when compared to male leaders, being treated as examples of global governance in combating the pandemic. Thus, based on a foundation acquired through a qualitative bibliographic research, this article sought to investigate the historical construction of socio-cultural barriers that have generated such gender inequality and excluded women from positions of power and decision-making, in order to verify the inconsistency of gender stereotypes. By reading academic articles, books, reports and official data on the topic, the article found the effectiveness of female leaders in controlling the pandemic due to psychological and strategic factors present in women’s governments, such as a behavior that is averse to the risk associated with an empathetic and sensitive posture that conveyed confidence, and could led to a greater social adherence to the measures and policies of social confinement.