COVID-19 and Global Inequalities

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken millions of lives and caused many millions of people to lose their jobs and/or businesses. It is commonplace for people to say, “We’re all in this together.” But, we’re not. In fact, the impact has been disproportionately felt by people who are already disadvantaged by reasons of race, ethnicity, gender, disability, poverty, age, and intersections of disfavored identity. This online course on COVID-19 and Global Inequalities examines the pandemic’s impact on racial, gender, wealth, and healthcare disparities, among others, through an international comparative lens. The course is self-paced and goes for 5 weeks, featuring lectures delivered by professors from around the world. The course is designed to foster understanding of equality law and theories of equality so that students can analyze different policy approaches to the pandemic. For the first year of enrollment, students will also have the opportunity to engage in monthly live discussions with one of the professors of the course.

What you'll learn

• By the end of the course, students will be able to:
• Compare how different legal systems addressed the Covid-19 pandemic;
• Compare the impact on inequality of the laws and policies that different legal systems adopted to address the pandemic;
• Analyze the theories of equality underlying the law and policy decisions that different systems adopted to address the pandemic;
• Discuss articles about inequality and the pandemic, and the issues raised in light of the underlying theories of equality, using examples from several legal systems;
• Connect with students from around the globe as friends/colleagues to discuss ongoing issues of inequality in light of the pandemic and the material they studied together;
• Create connections within a global community of research and learning