Introduction

Besides the enormous effect on both individual and public health, the COVID-19 pandemic itself and the measures employed to control it have also had huge socio-economic consequences with strongly gendered effects. Therefore, identifying gender aspects in the pandemic response is crucial, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic has shown the potential to reinforce traditional gendered patterns. To a higher degree than men, women are forced to combine paid work and unpaid family care at home. They are also suffering more from domestic violence and are forming the majority of the essential but low paid workforce, owing to the gender-segregated labour market.

This chapter explores differences in specific aspects of gender equality before and after the pandemic in two countries. Gender equality is defined in this chapter as the equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities of women and men and girls and boys. Equality does not entail that women and men will become the same but that women's and men's rights, responsibilities and opportunities will not depend on whether they are born male or female. Gender equality implies that the interests, needs and priorities of both women and men are taken into consideration, recognising the diversity of different groups of women and men. Equality between women and men is seen as both a human rights issue and as a precondition for, and indicator of, sustainable people-centred development (European Institute for Gender Equality, 2020).

We compare the management of the COVID-19 crisis in Germany and Sweden and the different gender-related policies to deal with the crisis.