Gender, variable to take into account in the appearance COVID-19

2020/03/16 Galarraga Aiestaran, Ana - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Medikuntza
• Etika
• Giza zientziak
• Berdintasuna
• Osasuna
• COVID-19
• Genetika
• Mikrobiologia

According to available epidemiological data, the influence of covid-19 is uneven between women and men. Chinese data have shown that it affects men more, on the one hand because the immune system of women is stronger against the new coronavirus and, on the other, because the behavior associated with gender is also more harmful among men (especially, smoking). Therefore, the lethality has been greater in men than in women.

However, the research group Impact of gender and covid-19a has warned in the journal The Lancet of the need to consider other aspects. The group is made up of researchers from Great Britain, USA, Canada, Australia, the South African Republic, Indonesia and Brazil, who say that for the implementation of appropriate measures it is necessary to analyze the impact of gender as a whole.

In fact, even though the lethality in women is lower, the risk of infection and transmission of the virus is higher than in men, since most health care providers are women (Hubein, for example, more than 90%). In addition, the fact that domestic care and the division of paid labour are also differentiated by gender makes women more vulnerable, since it is women who assume these tasks of care in their back. The WHO itself has recognized it in a statement. The consequences of measures that limit movements are also more intense in women.

The researchers commented on what happened in Ebola and dirty epidemics: the participation of women in decisions was lower, the minimum means for reproductive services and sexual health were not guaranteed, which led to an increase in maternal and child deaths.

They denounce in their article that to give an adequate response to the crisis it is necessary to take into account the experience and voice of women, but their work is hidden, so they are not sufficiently represented in the global decision-making centers, as is the case of the White House. Therefore, they urge governments and global institutions to take into account in COVID-19 the direct and indirect influence of sex and gender.