• Read the full article via Liana R. Woskie and our Associate Scholar, Dr. Clare Wenham, at medRxiv.
Panama implemented a state-ordered lockdown to combat the spread of COVID-19, which was segregated by gender. Women will be able to leave the space on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and men on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. In those days, Americans were only allowed to go to the supermarket or pharmacy. This was further limited because the last digit of national identity cards specified the hours in which one could pass out. The goal was to especially reduce public mobility and the threat of disease transmission, with the rules being “easily” understandable and applicable to the majority of the population.
Through a retrospective investigation of Global Geographic Positioning (GPS) data, this study presents a review of overall mobility in Panama following the country’s implementation of a gender-segregated social distancing policy. Panama selected because it was the only national gender segregation policy that lasted the duration of the blockade period. The paper examines mobility trends on female and male mobility days, examining differences in the volume of movement and type of network locations visited compared to pre-COVID trends.
It should be noted that we see fewer visits to all network categories on Women’s Mobility Days. This, in our opinion, shows that women seem to be coping better with lockdown than men. While we cannot find a definitive answer to the question why, we offer a number of possible justifications: 1) Given the widespread limitations of mobility, “going to the store” would possibly constitute a new form of negotiation within the home , in which men negotiate or decide to fulfill this role. if it is your only option to leave home; 2) women’s primary role as caregivers would likely prevent them from easily leaving the house; and (3) the threat belief and the fact that men “go out” to find their families because women do not need it.
In addition, this policy raises new considerations about women’s participation in civic life and the regression towards the public/private divide, women’s mobility, and the threat of domestic violence, gender identity, and discrimination against non-binary and trans groups.
While the Panamanian government recently eased and then re-implemented this lockdown policy, we recommend that this knowledge provide applicable research into its effect on society as a whole.
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