AEA Papers and Proceedings
ISSN 2574-0768 (Print) | ISSN 2574-0776 (Online)
Gendered Disparities during the COVID-19 Crisis in Sierra Leone
AEA Papers and Proceedings
vol. 113,
May 2023
(pp. 567–71)
Abstract
The COVID-19 outbreak had severe adverse impacts on the health and wealth of households in lower-income countries (LICs), and has affected even more severely female-headed households in LICs. Using high-frequency phone surveys in Sierra Leone, we show that female-headed households are likely to rely on cheaper food alternatives (e.g., Cassava) compared to male-headed households and are more food insecure. These effects are more nuanced among the poorest families owning one or no assets. Furthermore, female-headed households had less access to COVID-19 information, were less likely to adopt preventive measures (e.g., masks and social distancing) at the onset of the pandemic, and show greater signs of vaccine hesitancy in the early stages of the COVID-19 vaccine campaign.Citation
Levine, Madison, Niccolò F. Meriggi, Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak, Vasudha Ramakrishna, Maarten Voors, and Uday Wadehra. 2023. "Gendered Disparities during the COVID-19 Crisis in Sierra Leone." AEA Papers and Proceedings, 113: 567–71. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20231092Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- I12 Health Behavior
- I14 Health and Inequality
- I18 Health: Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
- I21 Analysis of Education
- I28 Education: Government Policy
- J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
- O15 Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration