Evidence shows that infectious disease outbreaks are not gender-neutral, meaning that women, men, and gender minorities are differentially affected. This evidence affirms the need to better incorporate a gender lens into infectious disease outbreaks. Despite this evidence, there has been a historic neglect of gender-based analysis in health, including during health crises. Recognizing the lack of available evidence on gender and pandemics, in early 2020 the Gender and COVID-19 Project set out to use a gender analysis matrix to conduct rapid, real-time analyses while the pandemic was unfolding to examine the gendered effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper reports on what a gender analysis matrix is, how it can be used to systematically conduct a gender analysis, how it was implemented within the study, ways in which the findings from the matrix were applied and built upon, and challenges encountered when using the matrix methodology.

Rosemary Morgan, Sara E Davies, Huiyun Feng, Connie C R Gan, Karen A Grépin, Sophie Harman, Asha Herten-Crabb, Julia Smith, Clare Wenham, Using Gender Analysis Matrixes to Integrate a Gender Lens Into Infectious Diseases Outbreaks Research, Health Policy and Planning, 2021;, czab149, https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czab149