This brief presents the partial results from the research “COVID-19 pandemic and women’s reproductive practices in Brazil”, conducted by the Research Group RepGen as part of the project “COVID-19, risk, impact and gender response”, which aims to understand how the pandemic affects women’s lives, their health, and their access to health care and services, with an emphasis on their sexual and reproductive health.

The study includes both quantitative and qualitative approaches. During the quantitative stage, which took place in 2021, an online, self-applied questionnaire was used, which contained questions regarding several topics related to women’s health and lives during the pandemic. At the end of the instrument, the following question was presented, open-ended and not compulsory to be answered:

“Would you like to leave a final comment regarding any of the questions above or any other subject that you consider important? Feel free to write about it on the designated field below.”

Women were welcomed to address a wide variety of topics. The results of the answers analysis were presented by means of two technical notes: “Women’s lives in times of crisis In Brazil: The COVID-19 pandemic, social and gender relations” and “Women’s sexual and reproductive health during the pandemic in Brazil”. The notes can be read independently, as they focus on different subjects.

The first note focuses on women’s comprehension of the sanitary and political crisis, as well as the significant changes to social and gender relations in the pandemic context, while the second note focuses on topics regarding women’s health and care.

Women’s lives in times of crisis in Brazil: The COVID-19 pandemic, social and gender relations

This brief is also available in Portuguese here.