Marya Rozanova-Smith, Andrey N. Petrov & Charlene Aqpik Apok
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating effect on Arctic communities. However, women have faced disproportionate negative impacts across key domains of gender equality. These include impacts in the political/public administration, economic, social, civic, and personal spheres. Most importantly, it is likely that the COVID-19 pandemic has deepened gender inequality for years to come.
As the potential COVID-19-driven gender inequality continues to unfold in the Arctic, it is critical to capture, measure, and assimilate available data and conduct just-in-time analysis to inform action to address COVID-19 pandemic gender impacts and gendered consequences. The existing gender analysis frameworks for the COVID-19 pandemic on gender impacts and gendered policy responses mainly focus on indicators at the national level. To narrow this knowledge gap, this paper presents the preliminary results of the science-driven academic exercise conducted by a diverse group of experts. It introduces a system of indicators organized within a framework that allows the analysis of available data at the regional and local levels.
The designed COVID-19 Gender Impacts and Policy Responses Indicators (COVID - GIPRI) Framework aims to provide a systematic way of analyzing the COVID-19 pandemic's gender impacts in conjunction with government and community responses across key gender equality domains. It will also evaluate their effectiveness over time. The COVID - GIPRI framework has primarily drawn on Western concepts of gender, and we recognize appropriate modifications are needed to incorporate Indigenous definitions to the greatest extent possible. The focus on Arctic women, rather than all genders, is conditioned by the lack of gender-specific data across the Arctic. However, the system of indicators developed by this project could be applied to other gender groups, in addition to women, should such data become available.
The COVID-19 Gender Impacts Index, which is develop using the COVID – GIPRI framework, can be used to inform decision-making, and program planning to accurately assess, improve, and monitor gender-oriented policies and practices.
