La evidencia empírica y las percepciones ciudadanas analizadas indican que el principal desafío del bienestar urbano en el Distrito de Panamá no radica en la falta de crecimiento ni planes estratégicos, sino en la persistencia de brechas territoriales y sociales asociadas a una gestión urbana poco focalizada y a una desconexión entre diagnóstico, y prioridades ciudadanas y composición del gasto público.

Nelva Araúz Reyes (2021)

La pandemia de covid-19 desnudó las vergüenzas preexistentes de una región caracterizada por ser la más desigual y violenta del planeta. América Latina y el Caribe es, en efecto, una región donde estas características, en conjunto con la pobreza —es decir, la privación inaceptable de condiciones materiales, sociales y económicas, o según Sen (2006) y Mancini (2018), junto con la violación y falta sistemática del pleno ejercicio de los derechos económicos, sociales, culturales y ambientales de su población—, conformaban un panorama desalentador, lleno de urgencias que invitaba a la creación de nuevos pactos sociales.

Clare Wenham, Nelva Marissa Arauz-Reyes, Daniela Meneses-Sala, Corina Rueda-Borrero (2021)

In response to COVID-19, Panama implemented a sex-segregated lockdown policy whereby women were allowed to access essential services on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and men on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The logic was to reduce disease transmission by controlling population circulation at any one time. We sought to understand the impact of this policy approach on Panamanian society. To do so, we undertook key informant interviews with representatives from groups of society that have been significantly affected by this policy across Panamanian society. Framework analysis was undertaken on interview transcripts to identify key trends, which were latterly triangulated with academic, media and grey literature. Firstly, we engage with intersectional analyses to show that those most affected were marginalised groups including trans population, disabled groups, indigenous groups and migrants who faced discrimination as a consequence of this policy. Secondly, we highlight practical tensions that individuals faced relating to access to resources (financial, health-related and beyond), and third we interrogate the methods used to enforce this policy, and the role of the police and exemption passes. We conclude that this policy was regressive in that it affected those most vulnerable in Panamanian society, entrenching existing inequalities. Before implementing sex-segregated policies in future health crises, governments must seek advice of gender and equality advisors and ensure impact assessments are undertaken to understand the burden such policies may pose across society.