ABSTRACT
As with other pandemics, gender has significantly shaped the COVID-19 crisis and societal responses to it, with inequalities exacerbated in numerous ways. Yet gender has been largely ignored within male-dominated policy responses. While women (and some men) took on increased responsibility for care, men’s health was substantially impacted by COVID-19, with more dying than women in many countries, and many experiencing mental health struggles as a result of lockdowns. This chapter considers how men and masculinities have been affected by, and in turn influenced, COVID-19 and other pandemics. We examine three key sites of organizing: work, governmentality and social movements, and how they have responded in gendered ways. COVID-19 underscores the need to understand gender intersectionally. The health of working class, racially minoritized, older men has been adversely affected much more than others, and global disparities in vaccine distribution highlight the significant power differentials among men. We consider what COVID-19 means for the future of men and masculinities, with social norms shaken up in multiple ways. While traditional norms can be reasserted in times of crisis, COVID-19 has also brought into question long-held assumptions and instigated transformations in at least some men’s practices, such as their involvement in caregiving.
