Actions to Promote Gender Equality in the Context of COVID-19

Abstract

The effects of the coronavirus crisis have been particularly acute in Latin America. Apart from the population health impacts associated with COVID-19, closures and “stay-at-home” measures have reinforced existing inequalities, especially for women. In this , we have incorporated a broader research agenda to address these issues. First, we analyze two databases (the Inventarios de Políticas Sociales accumulated by the Consejo Nacional de Evaluación de Políticas Sociales, Coneval, and the dataset compiled by the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, CIDE) to identify the policies implemented by federal and state governments to address gender inequality before and after the pandemic, in order to identify changes and continuities, as well as to accurately characterize the instruments designed to achieve these objectives. Second, we focus on two municipal governments (the city of Oaxaca and Iztapalapa in Mexico City) to reveal the political dynamics underlying the implementation of gender equality measures in the context of the COVID-19 crisis, addressing issues such as intergovernmental coordination and conflict from a qualitative perspective.