COVID-19: the gendered impacts of the outbreak
Clare Wenham
Published:March 06, 2020DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30526-2
Policies and public health efforts have not addressed the gendered impacts of disease outbreaks.1 The response to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) appears no different. We are not aware of any gender analysis of the outbreak by global health institutions or governments in affected countries or in preparedness phases. Recognising the extent to which disease outbreaks affect women and men differently is a fundamental step to understanding the primary and secondary effects of a health emergency on different individuals and communities, and for creating effective, equitable policies and interventions.
Although sex-disaggregated data for COVID-19 show equal numbers of cases between men and women so far, there seem to be sex differences in mortality and vulnerability to the disease.2 Emerging evidence suggests that more men than women are dying, potentially due to sex-based immunological3 or gendered differences, such as patterns and prevalence of smoking.4 However, current sex-disaggregated data are incomplete, cautioning against early assumptions. Simultaneously, data from the State Council Information Office in China suggest that more than 90% of health-care workers in Hubei province are women, emphasising the gendered nature of the health workforce and the risk that predominantly female health workers incur.5
