Gender and COVID-19

Abstract

Feminist insights have already played an important role in our rapidly developing understanding of COVID-19. Intersectional research has drawn attention to the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on women of color—particularly in the care industry and essential services—as well as the amplified discrimination faced by LGBTQI+ people. Understanding the pandemic as a gendered catastrophe builds outward from feminist anthropological research, thematizing two key areas: (1) masculinity and (2) the home as a site of gendered labor. Since the 1970s anthropologists have led scholarly debates about the domestic–public distinction, and since the 1990s they have incorporated feminist theory into the disciplinary mainstream's engagement with men and manhood. Paying attention to how familiar dichotomies such as nature/culture and public/private operate during the crisis can yield unexpected insights and alliances, offering powerful conceptual tools to turn feminist anthropology's lens on those most disadvantaged by COVID-19. Show more