COVID-19 Through a Gender-Based Lens Part 1

Jun 1, 2020

Show Notes for Episode Fourteen of seX & whY: COVID-19 through a Gender Based Lens Part 1

This is a discussion on how gender-associated norms impact disease process.

Host: Jeannette Wolfe
Guests: Dr Gary Barker CEO of Promundo- an organization that promotes healthy masculinity and gender equality 

Dr Stephen Burrell Assistant Professor in the Dept of Sociology at Durham University- who’s area of focus in on engaging men and boys in the prevention of violence against women.

Today’s podcast features the first part of our discussion which focuses on how “gender” roles and norms impact general health and the COVID-19 pandemic. Both of our guests are experts on how societal perceptions and stereotypes surrounding “masculinity” influence the health and well-being of both men and women. Through Promundo, Dr Barker has done significant amounts of work in Brazil where toxic masculinity has been associated with the early deaths of millions of young men and Dr Burrell recently wrote the article: Coronavirus reveals just how deep macho stereotypes run through society. 

Our discussion focuses on:

• The intentionality required to engage diverse groups of people to actually talk about how gender and masculinity associated issues significantly impact health outcomes.
• Research from Promundo which suggests that of the about overall 5 year mortality difference between men and women, that about 20% of that gap is due to genetics and about 50% is associated with the following three factors:
  • diet
  • smoking
  • substance abuse
• The recognition that more men than women are dying of Covid-19 and that we need to go beyond binomial data to look at “which” men and “which” women are at highest risk for death which leads us to the intersection of biological sex and other sociocultural influences.
• How the words different countries use to describe the pandemic often appear to reflect that country’s approach in how they are addressing it.
• The importance of intentionally creating neuro and cultural diversity amongst teams tasked to solve complicated problems.  

Special thanks to Doug Deems who helped edit this podcast.