Telework and Women Workers in the Context of the Covid-19 Pandemic: The Case of the Federal Judiciary in Brazil

Introduction: During the pandemic, the social roles of women were accentuated which were added and distributed in: worker, "housewife", mother and teacher. The objective of this study is to contextualize the social roles of women and the impact of telework, highlighting the case of those who worked at the Brazilian Federal Judiciary during the Covid-19 pandemic. Material and Methods: Thematic content analysis of open interviews during the pandemic. Eight women workers from different positions in a Judiciary Section participat-ed. Results: Three main themes are identified: work activity, life outside work, and work time. New tasks, a new way of managing work time and the need to estab-lish clear boundaries to ensure a balance between life at work and life out-side. What was already known is reiterated, women continue to do more hours of domestic tasks, and above all they are the ones who take care of the children. Conclusions: For women in telework, the two spaces - public and private - merged and become confused. Redesigning the temporalities of work and life in these workplaces needs to be accompanied by social level policies that ad-dress caregiving responsibilities and gender equality. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

The influence of physical activity level on the length of stay in hospital in older men survivors of COVID-19.

The purpose of this study was to verify the influence of physical activity level on the length of hospital stay in older men recovered from COVID-19. In total, 126 older men diagnosed with COVID-19 were admitted to the hospital between September and December 2020. Among them, 70 survived, of which 39 older men were included in the study. Within 30 days after discharge, patients answered the International Physical Activity Questionnaire to measure their physical activity level through phone contact, with questions corresponding to the week before symptom onset. Clinical and laboratorial data from admission, days between onset of symptoms and admission, length of stay, computed tomography abnormalities, and the need for the intensive care unit were collected. The groups (active × sedentary) were compared using the Student t test or Mann-Whitney test for quantitative data and chi-square test was used for categorical data. There is no difference between the groups in characteristics of admission (p > 0.05), except by potassium level. Active older men had a shorter length of stay (6.50 ± 3.46 vs 11.48 ± 7.63 days; p = 0.03), disease duration (15.71 ± 4.84 vs 21.09 ± 7.69 days; p = 0.02), and lower frequency of lung damage when compared to their sedentary counterparts. In conclusion, being physically active prior to infection can attenuate length of hospital stay in older men with COVID-19.

Women in Teleworking at the Brazilian Federal Court: Multiples Roles During the Pandemic

Introduction: As COVID-19 spread in Brazil, the Brazilian Federal Justice determined compulsory telework starting March 2020. We aimed to contextualize the impact of telework and the social roles of females working for the Federal Justice during the pandemic. Material and Methods: Content analysis of open interviews was conducted with seven women from different job titles in the Judiciary. Results are part of an ongoing doctoral study, approved by the Ethics and Research Committee of the School of Public Health, University of São Paulo. Results: It was evident that there were both favorable aspects and constraints imposed by the new work organization. A “multiple” journey was imposed on female workers who have children or other dependents. The need to find additional time in their day to do their work, either by starting work very early in the morning, or working very late at night, as well as interrupting the working day in smaller segments, with breaks for childcare, domestic chores, home education, among others. However, participants perceived the post-pandemic partial telework as favorable. Conclusions: Public and private spaces merged and blended for women working as teleworkers during the pandemic. Female workers were forced to take care of domestic and professional work, overwhelming themselves, as they need to manage two social spaces in a single geographical place. Redesigning the temporalities of work and private life require to be accompanied by social policies addressing caregiving responsibilities and gender equality.