Belarus; COVID-19 pandemic; gender stereotypes; policies; Ukraine; Gender Studies; Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous); Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
Abstract :
[en] 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.
Disciplines :
Political science, public administration & international relations
Author, co-author :
Matveieva, Olga; Faculty of Social Science, Marie Jahoda Center for International Gender Studies of Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany ; Dnipro University of Technology, Ukraine
Navumau, V.; Faculty of Social Science, Institute of Social Movements at the Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
Galego, Diego ; Université de Liège - ULiège > HEC Liège : UER > UER Management : Sustainable Strategy ; Public Governance Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
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.
9news - LiveJournal. (2020, May 1). Stress in isolation: Who is more difficult to survive the quarantine - men or women? 9news - Live Journal, 1–8. URL. https://9news.livejournal.com/37902096.html
Åslund, A. (2020). Responses to the COVID-19 crisis in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. Eurasian Geography and Economics, 61 (4–5), 532–545. https://doi.org/10.1080/15387216.2020.1778499
Bedford, S. (2017). “The election game: ” Authoritarian consolidation processes in Belarus. Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization, 25 (4), 381–406. URL. https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/675780
Bias, L. (2021). The Fight Against Domestic Violence in Belarus in Times of Protest. URL: https://en.zois-berlin.de/publications/the-fight-against-domestic-violence-in-belarus-in-times-of-protest
Bouckaert, G., Galli, D., Kuhlmann, S., Reiter, R., & Van Hecke, S. (2020). European coronationalism? A hot spot governing a pandemic crisis. Public Administration Review, 80 (5), 765–773. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13242
Del Boca, D., Oggero, N., Profeta, P., & Rossi, M. (2020). Women’s and men’s work, housework and childcare, before and during COVID-19. Review of Economics of the Household, 18 (4), 1001–1017. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11150-020-09502-1
EIGE. (2017). Gender equality index 2017: measuring gender equality in the European Union 2005-2015. https://doi.org/10.2839/707843
Ermasova, N., & Rekhter, N. (2021). COVID-19 stress, health issues, and correlations with different genders and age groups. Journal of Gender Studies, 31 (6), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2021.1941815
Fein, F. (2020). Women and feminism in Belarus: The truth behind the “Flower power.” Retrieved December10, 2021 URL: https://filia.org.uk/news/2020/9/21/women-and-feminism-in-belarus-the-truth-behind-the-flower-power
Galasso, V., Pons, V., Profeta, P., Becher, M., Brouard, S., & Foucault, M. (2020). Gender differences in COVID-19 attitudes and behavior: Panel evidence from eight countries. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117 (44), 27285–27291. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2012520117
Galego D, Moulaert F, Brans M and Santinha G. (2022). Social innovation & governance: A scoping review. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research, 35 (2), 265–290. https://doi.org/10.1080/13511610.2021.1879630
Gebhard, C., Regitz-Zagrosek, V., Neuhauser, H. K., Morgan, R., & Klein, S. L. (2020). Impact of sex and gender on COVID-19 outcomes in Europe. Biology of Sex Differences, 11 (1), 29. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13293-020-00304-9
Guterres, A. (2021). A Crisis with a Woman’s Face (pp. 1–6). pp. 1–6. URL: https://belarus.un.org/en/115171-crisis-womans-face
Hankivsky, O., & Salnykova, A. (2013). Gender in transition: Legacies, opportunities, and milestones in post-soviet Ukraine. In O. Hankivsky & A. Salnykova (Eds.), Gender, politics, and society in Ukraine (pp. 3–25). University of Toronto Press.
Jarábik, B. (2009). Belarus: Are the scales tipping? pp. 1–4. URL: odb-office.eu/files/docs/PB6_Belarus_scales_ENG_mar09.pdf
Krasnianski, Y., Gomelkov, A., Bikanov, F., Laikova, O., Zelionaia, A., Isachenko, A., Vasina, V. Vasina, V. (2020). The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on social and economic processes in Belarus. URL: http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/ukraine/17415.pdf
Krawatzek, F., & Sasse, G. (2021, November 3). Belarus: How an unpopular government is struggling to manage the COVID crisis. The Conversation. URL: https://theconversation.com/belarus-how-an-unpopular-government-is-struggling-to-manage-the-covid-crisis-170675
Kuhlmann, S., Bouckaert, G., Galli, D., Reiter, R., & Hecke, S. V. (2021). Opportunity management of the COVID-19 pandemic: Testing the crisis from a global perspective. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 87 (3), 497–517. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020852321992102
Kulakevich, T. (2020). National Awakening in Belarus: Elite Ideology to “Nation” Practice. SAIS Review of International Affairs, 40 (2), 97–110. https://doi.org/10.1353/sais.2020.0027
Lewis, H. (2020, March 19). The coronavirus is a Disaster for Feminism: Pandemics affect men and women differently. The Atlantic, pp. 1–7. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/03/feminism-womens-rights-coronavirus-covid19/608302
Maital, S., & Barzani, E. (2020). The global economic impact of A Summary of Research. URL: https://www.neaman.org.il/EN/Files/Global Economic Impact of COVID-19_20200322163553.399.pdf
Mihalisko, K. J. (1997). Belarus: Retreat to authoritarianism. In Democratic changes and authoritarian reactions in Russia Moldova. (pp. 223–281). https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511559211.007
Navumau V and Matveieva O. (2021). The gender dimension of the 2020 Belarusian protest: Does female engagement contribute to the establishment of gender equality? New Perspectives, 29 (3), 230–248. https://doi.org/10.1177/2336825X211029126
OECD. (2021a). The COVID-19 crisis in Ukraine. URL: https://www.oecd.org/eurasia/competitiveness-programme/eastern-partners/COVID-19-CRISIS-IN-UKRAINE.pdf
OECD. (2021b). Government at a Glance 2021. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/1c258f55-en
Paulovich, N. (2021). How feminist is the Belarusian revolution? Female agency and participation in the 2020 post-election protests. Slavic Review, 80 (1), 38–44. https://doi.org/10.1017/slr.2021.22
Pivovarov, S., & Spirin, E. (2020, October 20). In Ukraine, over the seven months of the coronavirus pandemic, more women were infected, but more men died. Babel, pp. 1–8. URL: https://babel.ua/ru/texts/53125-v-ukraine-za-sem-mesyacev-pandemii-koronavirusa-zarazhalis-chashche-zhenshchiny-no-muzhchin-umerlo-bolshe-infografika-babelya
Prizel, I. (1997). Ukraine between proto-democracy and “soft” authoritarianism. In K. Dawisha & B. Parrott (Eds.), Democratic changes and authoritarian reactions in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova (pp. 330–370). https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511559211.009
Romanenko, M. (202011April). “Domestic violence is a pandemic within a pandemic” - UN women Ukraine rep on coronavirus impact. Hromadske International 1–7. https://en.hromadske.ua/posts/domestic-violence-is-a-pandemic-within-a-pandemic-un-women-ukraine-rep
Rosenfeld, D. L., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2021). Can a pandemic make people more socially conservative? Political ideology, gender roles, and the case of COVID-19. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 51 (4), 425–433. https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12745
Sociological Group Rating. (2020a). Emotions and behavior of Ukrainians under quarantine: special project. URL: https://ratinggroup.ua/en/research/ukraine/emocii_i_povedenie_ukraincev_na_karantine_specialnyy_proekt.html
Sociological Group Rating. (2020b). Ukraine under quarantine: monitoring of public moods. URL: https://ratinggroup.ua/files/ratinggroup/reg_files/rg_ua_cc_032020_press.pdf
UNDP, U. W., & FAO. (2020). COVID-19 in Ukraine: Impact on Households and Businesses. URL: https://www.ua.undp.org/content/ukraine/en/home/library/democratic_governance/covid-19-in-ukraine–impact-on-households-and-businesses.html
UNDP Belarus. (2021). Three lessons we learned from our COVID-19 response in Belarus. URL: https://www.by.undp.org/content/belarus/en/home/blog/3-lessons-covid19-response.html
United Nations. (2018). Gender norms and stereotypes in eastern Ukraine: The views of women and men. URL: https://www.scoreforpeace.org/files/publication/pubfile//USE-NormsandstereotypesENG.pdf
UN Women. (2020). COVID-19 and its economic toll on women: The story behind the numbers. URL: www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2020/9/feature-covid-19-economic-impacts-on-women