Mulheres à frente do combate à pandemia: um estudo sobre política, liderança e gênero em contexto de crise

Abstract

The objective of this research was to analyze the performance and challenges faced by female mayors during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, with a particular focus on the intersection of gender and crisis management. The guiding question was: how did women, who traditionally face a series of obstacles and limitations in asserting their authority and leadership in institutional politics, handle the pandemic response in a context of unprecedented crisis and emergency in this century? The study focused on four female mayors from Minas Gerais who were in office in 2020 and were re-elected in the municipal elections of the same year. The period analyzed covered from March 2020 to March 2021, including the first wave and part of the second wave of the pandemic. The methodology included a bibliographic analysis of emergency management, municipal politics, and female representation in politics, as well as a documentary analysis of the legislation issued by the municipalities in the context of the pandemic, posts on social networks and the official media of the mayors and city halls, and interviews with two of the four selected mayors. The results support the hypothesis that female mayors acted quickly and proactively in implementing non-pharmaceutical measures in the municipalities and sought to overcome obstacles with actions that maximized their leadership. Gender issues and the difficulties related to them, although present, appeared less prominently than expected.