An unequal Balance: Women’s Jobs during COVID-19: the Case of Panama

Abstract

This article attempts to answer the question of how women experienced the effects of the health measures including the gender-based lockdown and only being able to leave the house with an identity card adopted during COVID-19 in Panama, especially as regards paid and unpaid work. The in-depth interview was used as a methodological tool, which was administered to key informants: leaders of women’s, trade union and LGBTI+ organizations, state officials and staff members of international organizations. Transcripts were analyzed on the basis of feminist academic bibliography together with the legislation, reports, and statistical data. It was thought that the government adopted measures that failed to consider gender inequality, which had effects on the lives of women, such as overburdening them and making work in the home and that of vulnerable women invisible. It also increased their unpaid workload, insecurity, and economic uncertainty.