Socio-economic impacts of Covid-19 through gender lens: A situational assessment in Dhaka city, Bangladesh

Global trends showed that men were somehow, more inclined to the infection and death by Covid-19 than women, which showed no exception in Bangladesh. This paper aims to focus on major socio-economic impacts (economic, education, health, gender power relation) and Covid-19-induced response measures in urban context, through gender lens. Qualitative and quantita-tive methods were blended for the study. A significant relationship was identified between re-spondent's gender and maintaining social distancing (& chi;2 (1, N = 110) = 12.2037, p = 0.000477), also in case of going in crowded places during the first wave of Covid-19 (& chi;2 (4, N = 110) = 18.8001, p = 0.00086), using chi-square test. Concerned with socio-economic im-pacts, the gender of respondents was found to have a moderate impact on domestic abuse (& chi;2 (1, N = 110) = 1.8442, p = 0.174454). As for other impacts, null hypotheses failed to be rejected. Regarding response and awareness level, researcher found that 71.6% of women were more skilled in isolation management, and food stocking, in contrast with 64% of men. Entrenched so-cial prejudices and unequal gender-specific treatments toward women, could stimulate the gen-der-sensitive disproportion in preparedness, impact, and response phase since the Covid-19 emer-gence.

Automated summary

Global trends indicate that men are more prone to infection and death from Covid-19 than women, and this pattern is also observed in Bangladesh. This study focuses on the socio-economic impacts and response measures to Covid-19 in an urban context, with a gender lens. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used, and significant relationships were found between gender and social distancing and visiting crowded places during the pandemic. Women showed higher skills in isolation management and food stocking compared to men.