Symptoms of a broken system: the gender gaps in COVID-19 decision-making

With 87 countries included in this analysis, information regarding task force composition and membership criteria was not easily publicly accessible for the majority of United Nations Member States, impeding the ability to hold countries accountable to previously made commitments. Data collection and governance policies must include sex and gender data, and strive for an intersectionality approach that includes going beyond binary representation in order to produce results that are inclusive of the full gender spectrum. [...]countries swiftly established expert and decision-making structures through traditional processes: reaching out to government ministry directors, prominent experts and heads of well-known institutions. Table 1 Identified national COVID-19 task forces # Country (Reference) Name of the task force convened Type of task force Gender Women head of force Public Women head of gov Note 1 Albania23 Technical Committee of Experts(for Covid-19) “Komiteti i Ekspertëve” Expert 8W; 3M (11 total) 72.7%W Unknown Yes No, Edi Rama N/A 2 Algeria24 National Committee for Monitoring and Follow-up of the Corona Virus (Covid-19) اللجنة الوطنية العلمية لرصد ومتابعة تفشي فيروس كورون Expert 0W; 11M (11 total) 0%W No, Abderahmane Ben Bouzid Yes No, Abdelaziz Djerad N/A 3 Argentina25 26 Committee of medical and scientific experts “Comité de expertos médicos y cientificos” Expert 4W; 6M (10 total) 40%W Unknown Yes No, Alberto Fernández N/A 4 Armenia27 28 Interdepartmental Commission for Coordinating the Prevention of the Spread of the new Coronavirus “միջգերատեսչական հանձնաժողով” Decision-making 4W; 10M (14 total) 28.6%W No, Arsen Torosyan Yes No, Nikol Pashinyan N/A IT working group modelling spread of coronavirus in Armenia (No formal name) Expert 0W; 12M (12 total) 0%W Unknown Yes Photo reference(s) were used to determine gender composition. 5 Australia29–32 Australian National COVID-19 Coordination Commission Decision-making 2W; 6M (8 total) 25%W No, Neville Power Yes No, Scott Morrison N/A Australian Health Protection Principal Committee Decision-making 3W; 6M (9 total) 33.3%W No, Brendan Murphy Yes N/A 6 Austria33 Coronavirus Taskforce “Hausinternen Stabs der Coronavirus-Taskforce” Decision-making 6W; 4M (10 total) 60%W Unknown Yes No, Sebastian Kurz N/A Advisory Team to the Coronavirus Taskforce “Beraterstabs der Coronavirus-Taskforce” Expert 5W; 13M (18 total) 27.8%W Unknown Yes N/A 7 Bahamas34 35 National Coordination Committee on COVID-19 Decision-making