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GENDER RESEARCH 4 COVID-19

URGENT

Special support for research projects on the impact of health emergency caused by COVID-19 on gender inequalities and violence against women and domestic violence

Taking into account the current outbreak of coronavirus and COVID-19 and the situation of increasing uncertainty and social alarm in people, but also in the existing scientific and technological capacity in Portugal, the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), in articulation with the Secretaria de Estado para a Cidadania e a Igualdade de Género (SECI) and with the support of the Comissão para a Cidadania e a Igualdade de Género (CIG), assigns a special support, “GENDER RESEARCH 4 COVID 19”, to projects and initiatives which enable the production and dissemination of knowledge on gender impacts of the pandemic caused by COVID-19 and the disclosure of contingency plans and measures adopted in order to contain it and resolve it.

Projects must include, mandatorily, a strategy for the dissemination and communication of results.

Scope and Impact

Each historical moment of crisis, whether environmental, health or economic and financial, and each system of gender social relations, impose specific demands to women and men. No crisis is neutral from the point of view of gender, causing different impacts during and after the time of its occurrence. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the demands faced by women and men by the contextualized configurations of gender regimes and by the demands and ways of reacting to the crisis. One of the fundamental dimensions to be considered is the division of public and private sphere, the production and reproduction between women and men, and this is a crisis that places CARE at the centre of health, political, economic and financial concerns. Women are at the front line of the response to the pandemic, as professionals of health, social support, cleaning, and as scientists and researchers and as mobilizers; also while working mothers, they are particularly affected by the demands of reconciling towards care and support for children whose schools and day care centres have closed.

Another level of impact of the pandemic crisis will be on the economy and on the functioning of the labour market, with differing effects expected on women in terms of employment, unemployment and working conditions, exacerbated by the strong sexual segregation of jobs and sectors of activity. Finally, times of crisis are generally associated with an increase in violence against women and domestic violence, with the increased risk of violence very much associated with the situation of uncertainty and confinement in which families find themselves and the difficulty to access formal and informal networks for support.

This is a challenging moment, questioning the role to carry out by the State, by the market and by the families in the current social welfare and production regimes, but where the profound gender asymmetries in an economy and society leaving care in a devaluation position (when practiced in the formal economy) and invisibility (when exercised at home and family). Alerts for the impacts on gender inequality of the current pandemic situation come from the academy and international bodies such as the United Nations or the European Institute for Gender Equality.

Studies produced in the framework of this support should contribute to the production of knowledge upon these different impacts, the constraints raised upon social gender relations in the individual, family, economic and health reaction to the pandemic, and future effects, and also to contribute to the presentation of response and intervention instruments.

The proposed projects should contribute to the production of knowledge on gender impacts and analyse the weight that social gender relations and the inequalities that imply on women have in the life experience of the crisis, in the solutions activated as a reaction and in the future effects.

Lines and Research Objectives

Projects can be classified under one of the following lines of R&D, including the dissemination and communication of project results:

Line 1 - Gender and labour market during and in the post-crisis period COVID-19
Objective 1. Employment, unemployment and precarious work conditions
Objective 2. Changes of work organization conditions
Objective 3. Health, social support, cleaning: women at the front line

Line 2 - COVID-19, daily life, stereotypes and gender roles
Objective 1. Gender stereotypes, risk behaviours, health and pandemic
Objective 2. Provision of informal care, performance of household chores and family life in times of pandemic

Line 3 - Covid-19 and violence against women and domestic violence
Objective 1. Patterns and dynamics of violence in situation of crisis
Objective 2. COVID-19 and State and society responses to violence against women and domestic violence
Objective 3. Tools and instruments for preventing, response, and combat violence in crises and disasters contexts

Types of Projects and Funding Modalities

Two types of projects are eligible, which must include obligatorily the dissemination and communication of results.

Type 1 - Rapid implementation projects (maximum 4 months of development time)

Maximum fund per project: 20,000 euros

These projects should complement ongoing initiatives and reorient existing teams to analyse the immediate impacts during the period of the COVID-19 crisis, namely through surveys and treatment of secondary data using official sources of information. Sampling techniques, preferably random, should be adopted and not for convenience, which ensure statistical representativeness. Proposals must include innovative, focused and feasible ideas, with concrete results, arising from the analysis of the Portuguese reality.

These projects must mandatorily produce results, of at least two types, with the purpose of dissemination and communication, such as:

• Databases that reflect the Portuguese reality at the present time
• Reports and working documents in open access
• Formal scientific publication submitted
• Information material to communicate the produced results
• Public policy recommendations for immediate response to the analysis carried out with identification and concrete instruments proposals that can be immediately applied to strengthen the response to the crisis

Type 2 - Longitudinal analysis projects (maximum 10 months of development time)

Maximum fund per project: 40,000 euros

These projects should describe and analyse the evolution of the crisis effects during and in the post-pandemic period. Sampling techniques, preferably random and not for convenience, should be adopted, which ensure statistical representativeness. The proposals should include innovative, focused and feasible ideas, with concrete results, arising from the analysis of the Portuguese reality.

Projects must mandatorily produce results of at least three types to be disseminated and communicated, such as:

• Databases reflecting the evolution of the Portuguese reality during and in the period after the COVID-19 crisis
• Reports and working documents
• At least one scientific paper published in a national and international journal
• Guide proposal or support tool for the creation of action plans and strategies for support structures and protection of populations vulnerable to domestic violence and sexual violence in the context of pandemic or natural disasters
• Guide proposal or support tool for the creation of strategic and articulated awareness campaigns for groups vulnerable to domestic violence and sexual violence in the context of pandemic or natural disasters
• Proposal for national and international good practice guides applicable in the context of pandemic or natural disasters
• Proposal of training actions, thematic and reference workshops
• Information material for communication of the results produced
• Clear public policy recommendations in the areas under review, framed in current national policies, with a view to strengthen the resilience and robustness of crisis responses
• Public presentation of results, using digital formats, if necessary.

Recipients

Higher education institutions and their institutes, State Laboratories and other public research institutions, scientific societies or non-profit scientific associations, public or private non-profit institutions, can apply on in an individual basis or in partnership.

How to Apply

Proposals must be submitted in Portuguese or English, in a form provided, which can be accessed here.

Additional information can be obtained by e-mail: GenderResearch4Covid@fct.pt

The submission of proposals will take place between May 15 and 17:00 Lisbon time on June 2, 2020.

Evaluation

The evaluation of R&D proposals will be made by a committee that will integrate experts appointed by the FCT and the CIG and the selection criterion will be based on the scientific quality of the project and the feasibility of its implementation and the proposed results and its dissemination and implementation plan.

The evaluations will be presented to the President of FCT, who will take the final decision.

The results of the proposals evaluation will be disseminated until 30 June.

External reviewers

Funding

In view of the urgency, rapid implementation projects will be supported, with a maximum of 4 months or 10 months of development time, and with the maximum funding limit for each project of 20,000 euros or 40,000 euros, respectively for each of the durations.

For this application, it is foreseen a total budget allocation of EUR 500,000. Approved projects will be funded with national funds through the FCT budget.

Legal Framework

The supports to be granted are funded under the Special Support Regulation, published in the Diário da República through Notice no. 11367/2010, of June 8th.