Loddon Mallee women invited to take part in Gender Equity Victoria study

Its findings will inform advocacy for gender equality and resilience into the future.

Women will be asked to share their experiences of the pandemic in a range of areas, such as health, finances, daily activities and workload.

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Women's Health Loddon Mallee executive officer Tricia Currie said the findings would play a role in advocacy for a pandemic recovery in which women's voices were heard.

Ms Currie said the Gender Equity Victoria study was seeking experiences of COVID-19 on a local community level, through individual women's experiences.

She said the research aimed to make clearer how the COVID-19 pandemic had affected different areas of women and girls' lives.

Ms Currie said the pandemic had amplified inequalities already existing in health, employment, caring, economic security and mental health.

She said there were important things to be learnt from research into women's experiences of the pandemic.

Read more: Equal recovery calls as crisis hits women hardest

"We can take this information to those who make decisions ... to better understand the impact of those decisions and policies on women, and to ensure that there is a real focus on a gender equal recovery," Ms Currie said.

"It's looking into the future to not only be gender equal in the recovery from a pandemic point of view, but [also] ... for more resilient communities into the future."

Ms Currie said interest in focus groups had been strong, but some places were still available.

Focus groups run on February 2, from 11.30am-1pm, February 8 from 1.30pm to 3pm and February 12 from 10am-11.30am.

Find out more online here.

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