Ageing, Gender, and the Pandemic Decade

At the end of 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported nearly 780 million confirmed cumulative cases of COVID-19, over 7.1 million related deaths, and an estimated 400 million people living with long-term consequences, called Long COVID. Accelerated globalization and expanded connectivity are increasing the likelihood of more epidemics and their rapid spread. There are important lessons to be learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, including differential risks and outcomes by age and sex. Older adults are more biologically vulnerable while social factors, including lifelong structural and systemic inequities, worsen the impact for women. Women are at lower risk of dying from COVID-19, for example, but they are more likely than men to suffer from Long COVID and from the negative social and economic consequences of COVID-19. To anticipate and mitigate pandemic-related inequities, we welcome submissions to this special issue on older women and the COVID-19 pandemic. Areas of interest include but are not limited to the following topics, separately or in combination with one another:- Ageism and human rights- Ethical issues- Economic insecurity- Health effects, e.g., lifestyle behavior changes, health literacy- Long COVID- Voluntary and involuntary disruptions in health care.- Life course; cumulative risk and resilience - Mental and emotional distress- Social isolation and loneliness- Changes in living arrangements - Institutional settings, e.g., long-term care, prisons, and immigrant, refugee camps.- Increased unpaid domestic care and family caregiving- Technology for information, education, and socialization- Workforce issues, including retired women re-entering the workforce- Violence against women and elder abuse- Death, dying, grief and bereavement- Structural and systemic inequities, e.g., oldest-old; minoritized racial/ethnic and sexual/ gender groups, immigrants and refugees, persons in rural or remote areas; poverty and low-income; and older women at the intersections of these and other marginalized statuses Topic editors: Denise Burnette, Limei Chen, Sugarmaa Myagmarjav, Asha Banu L Soletti Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/82068/ageing-gender-and-the-pandemic-decade