Inequality in the middle of a crisis: an analysis of health workers during the COVID-19 pandemic from the profession, race, and gender perspectives

Abstract Studies show that people in vulnerable conditions and some social groups such as women and black people have suffered more intensely from the COVID-19 pandemic impacts. This expression of inequality also manifests itself among healthcare workers, with greater exposure of some specific groups. This paper analyzes the effect of COVID-19 on health care workers and the working conditions in the Brazilian public health system, analyzed from professional, gender, and race perspectives. Data were collected from an online survey of 1,829 health workers conducted in March 2021. Indeed, we identified inequalities in health workers’ experiences during the health crisis generated by COVID-19, which are marked by the profession of each worker and are traversed by their gender and race traits.

摘要 研究表明，处于弱势处境的人群以及女性、黑人等社会群体，受新冠疫情（COVID-19）冲击的程度更为深重。这种不平等现象同样在医护人员群体中有所显现，部分特定群体的暴露风险显著更高。本文从职业、性别与种族视角出发，分析了新冠疫情对巴西公共卫生系统中医护人员的影响及其工作境遇。研究数据来源于2021年3月针对1829名医护人员开展的在线调研。本研究确证，在新冠疫情引发的公共卫生危机期间，医护人员的抗疫经历存在显著不平等：这类不平等以个体职业属性为核心标识，同时受到其性别与种族特质的贯穿影响。