Startseite NINE How Governments’ Response to the Pandemic Exacerbate Gender Inequalities in Belarus and Ukraine: Comparative Analysis of Minsk and Kyiv Cases
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NINE How Governments’ Response to the Pandemic Exacerbate Gender Inequalities in Belarus and Ukraine: Comparative Analysis of Minsk and Kyiv Cases

  • Olga Matveieva und Vasil Navumau
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Volume 1: Community and Society
Ein Kapitel aus dem Buch Volume 1: Community and Society

Abstract

COVID- 19 has had a devastating impact on urban life, with governments choosing various measures to mitigate its consequences. During the first wave of the pandemic, some countries, such as Ukraine, introduced a lockdown, closing airports and public places, and encouraging its citizens to quarantine. Others, like Belarus, preferred a ‘laissez- faire’ approach, ignoring COVID- 19 while comparing it to the seasonal flu. This chapter analyzes the gender- related consequences of these nations’ differing approaches to containing the pandemic in their respective capital cities, Kyiv and Minsk. We consider how measures implemented in the two capitals influenced both men and women during the initial phase of the pandemic (March– July, 2020).

In the first part of the chapter, we discuss the two different national policies to deal with the pandemic’s consequences. We also conducted polls in Kyiv and Minsk and semi- structured, in- depth Skype interviews with eight female professionals, four in each country (politician, gender activist, feminist activist in both countries, and ‘essential workers’: in Belarus, a medical professional, and in Ukraine, a teacher). Questionnaires contained ten questions: the topics were chosen, proceeding from the preliminary polls, and launched via Google forms. We asked female professionals about the major problems they faced because of measures introduced by the authorities to mitigate the effects of COVID- 19 (overall there were 16 questions, 93 possible answers). Via deductive reasoning, we identified the following topics: efficacy of the governments’ efforts, economic pressure, an increase in household duties, psychological problems, and domestic violence. We concentrated on domestic violence as the most pressing theme.

Abstract

COVID- 19 has had a devastating impact on urban life, with governments choosing various measures to mitigate its consequences. During the first wave of the pandemic, some countries, such as Ukraine, introduced a lockdown, closing airports and public places, and encouraging its citizens to quarantine. Others, like Belarus, preferred a ‘laissez- faire’ approach, ignoring COVID- 19 while comparing it to the seasonal flu. This chapter analyzes the gender- related consequences of these nations’ differing approaches to containing the pandemic in their respective capital cities, Kyiv and Minsk. We consider how measures implemented in the two capitals influenced both men and women during the initial phase of the pandemic (March– July, 2020).

In the first part of the chapter, we discuss the two different national policies to deal with the pandemic’s consequences. We also conducted polls in Kyiv and Minsk and semi- structured, in- depth Skype interviews with eight female professionals, four in each country (politician, gender activist, feminist activist in both countries, and ‘essential workers’: in Belarus, a medical professional, and in Ukraine, a teacher). Questionnaires contained ten questions: the topics were chosen, proceeding from the preliminary polls, and launched via Google forms. We asked female professionals about the major problems they faced because of measures introduced by the authorities to mitigate the effects of COVID- 19 (overall there were 16 questions, 93 possible answers). Via deductive reasoning, we identified the following topics: efficacy of the governments’ efforts, economic pressure, an increase in household duties, psychological problems, and domestic violence. We concentrated on domestic violence as the most pressing theme.

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Front Matter i
  2. Contents v
  3. List of Figures and Tables ix
  4. Notes on Contributors xi
  5. Acknowledgments xvii
  6. Preface to All Four Volumes of Global Reflections on COVID-19 and Urban Inequalities xviii
  7. Introduction 1
  8. Working Practices
  9. Street Vendor Struggles: Maintaining a Livelihood Through the COVID-19 Lockdown in Hanoi, Vietnam 21
  10. The Man and the Scooter: How the Low-Income Worker Helps Save a Locked-Down City 31
  11. The Hidden Inequities and Divisions among Workers in the US: The Domestic Workers’ Workforce as Non-Essential Workers 41
  12. Reflections of Living ‘Hand-to-Mouth’ among ‘Hustlers’ During COVID-19: Insights on the Realities of Poverty in Jamaica 51
  13. Looking at Urban Inequalities Regarding Different Jobs in the Age of COVID-19: Who Stayed at Home, Who Did Not? 61
  14. Life During Lockdown
  15. Ageist Transport Infrastructures: Rethinking Public Transport amid COVID-19 Lockdowns in India 73
  16. The Pandemic and Food Insecurity in Small Cities of the Global South: A Case Study of Noapara in Bangladesh 83
  17. How Governments’ Response to the Pandemic Exacerbate Gender Inequalities in Belarus and Ukraine: Comparative Analysis of Minsk and Kyiv Cases 93
  18. Infrastructure Inequality and Privileged Capacity to Transform Everyday Life in COVID-19 South Africa 105
  19. Under Quarantine in a City Project: Stories of Fear, Family, Food, and Community 117
  20. The Impacts of Socio-Spatial Inequity: COVID-19 in São Paulo 129
  21. Migration, Migrants, and Refugees
  22. Liminality, Gender, and Ethnic Dynamics in Urban Space: COVID-19 and its Consequences for Young Female Migrants (YFM) in Dhaka 143
  23. Spatial Inequality and Colonial Palimpsest in Kuala Lumpur 155
  24. The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Travails of Rohingya Refugees in the Largest Bangladeshi Refugee Camp 165
  25. Singapore’s Pandemic Governance and Deepening Marginalization of Migrant Workmen 175
  26. Age, Race, Gender, and Ability
  27. Experiential Equity: An Environmental Neuroscientific Lens for Disparities in Urban Stress 187
  28. What is the Relationship between COVID-19 and the Movement to ‘Defund the Police’? 197
  29. Following the Voices of Older Adults During the COVID-19 Crisis: Perspectives from the Netherlands 209
  30. The Role of Social Infrastructures for Trans* People During the COVID-19 Pandemic 223
  31. COVID-19 and Blind Spaces: Responding to Digital (In)Accessibility and Social Isolation During Lockdown for Blind, Deafblind, Low Vision, and Vision Impaired Persons in Aotearoa New Zealand 235
  32. Conclusion 245
  33. Index 251
https://doi.org/10.56687/9781529218893-013

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Front Matter i
  2. Contents v
  3. List of Figures and Tables ix
  4. Notes on Contributors xi
  5. Acknowledgments xvii
  6. Preface to All Four Volumes of Global Reflections on COVID-19 and Urban Inequalities xviii
  7. Introduction 1
  8. Working Practices
  9. Street Vendor Struggles: Maintaining a Livelihood Through the COVID-19 Lockdown in Hanoi, Vietnam 21
  10. The Man and the Scooter: How the Low-Income Worker Helps Save a Locked-Down City 31
  11. The Hidden Inequities and Divisions among Workers in the US: The Domestic Workers’ Workforce as Non-Essential Workers 41
  12. Reflections of Living ‘Hand-to-Mouth’ among ‘Hustlers’ During COVID-19: Insights on the Realities of Poverty in Jamaica 51
  13. Looking at Urban Inequalities Regarding Different Jobs in the Age of COVID-19: Who Stayed at Home, Who Did Not? 61
  14. Life During Lockdown
  15. Ageist Transport Infrastructures: Rethinking Public Transport amid COVID-19 Lockdowns in India 73
  16. The Pandemic and Food Insecurity in Small Cities of the Global South: A Case Study of Noapara in Bangladesh 83
  17. How Governments’ Response to the Pandemic Exacerbate Gender Inequalities in Belarus and Ukraine: Comparative Analysis of Minsk and Kyiv Cases 93
  18. Infrastructure Inequality and Privileged Capacity to Transform Everyday Life in COVID-19 South Africa 105
  19. Under Quarantine in a City Project: Stories of Fear, Family, Food, and Community 117
  20. The Impacts of Socio-Spatial Inequity: COVID-19 in São Paulo 129
  21. Migration, Migrants, and Refugees
  22. Liminality, Gender, and Ethnic Dynamics in Urban Space: COVID-19 and its Consequences for Young Female Migrants (YFM) in Dhaka 143
  23. Spatial Inequality and Colonial Palimpsest in Kuala Lumpur 155
  24. The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Travails of Rohingya Refugees in the Largest Bangladeshi Refugee Camp 165
  25. Singapore’s Pandemic Governance and Deepening Marginalization of Migrant Workmen 175
  26. Age, Race, Gender, and Ability
  27. Experiential Equity: An Environmental Neuroscientific Lens for Disparities in Urban Stress 187
  28. What is the Relationship between COVID-19 and the Movement to ‘Defund the Police’? 197
  29. Following the Voices of Older Adults During the COVID-19 Crisis: Perspectives from the Netherlands 209
  30. The Role of Social Infrastructures for Trans* People During the COVID-19 Pandemic 223
  31. COVID-19 and Blind Spaces: Responding to Digital (In)Accessibility and Social Isolation During Lockdown for Blind, Deafblind, Low Vision, and Vision Impaired Persons in Aotearoa New Zealand 235
  32. Conclusion 245
  33. Index 251
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Heruntergeladen am 1.10.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.56687/9781529218893-013/html
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