“I Think Even in Challenging Times We Can Still Be Uplifting”: Indigenous Women’s Experiences of Resilience to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Alaska

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Alaska communities faced an extremely challenging situation given their socioeconomic, cultural, and demographic characteristics, as well as issues related to remoteness and colonial legacy. This paper seeks to advance the understanding of the gendered impacts and implications of crises like the COVID-19 pandemic on Indigenous women in Alaskan urban and rural communities through a resilience lens. The paper addresses two primary research questions: (1) What are the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Indigenous women in urban and rural Alaska, and specifically what are the gendered implications in the personal, sociocultural, and economic domains? (2) What are the strengths associated with women’s responses to COVID-19 that contribute to individual and community resilience during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and what are the constraints? This research is based on seventeen in-depth thematic interviews conducted in the city of Anchorage, the hub community of Nome, and its neighboring rural communities on the Seward Peninsula. Using the deficit-based approach combined with a strength-based perspective, this study provides a comprehensive examination of Indigenous women experiences during the pandemic across key domains of gendered impacts and responses, also providing a first-ever analysis of differences between rural and urban settings. The results revealed that despite significant challenges in personal, sociocultural, and economic domains, women demonstrated resilience and resourcefulness, while serving as caregivers at home and across their communities. The Indigenous holistic concepts of health and well-being, along with values of care, mutual support, and strong social and kinship ties, combined with traditional land- and water-based activities and cultural practices, play a crucial role in times of crisis, significantly contributing to building resilience and fostering empowerment at both the individual and community levels.

1. Introduction

1.1. Background

Alaska is one of the Arctic regions most severely affected by COVID-19. The total number of COVID-19 cases in the state is 307,655, including 1486 deaths from a population of 731,158 [1]. Due to harsh climatic conditions, geographic remoteness, limited infrastructure, housing shortages, and transportation accessibility issues—particularly limited road access to villages—Alaska encountered significant additional challenges in managing an effective public health system, including coordinating an adequate response to the COVID-19 pandemic [2].

The City of Anchorage and many rural boroughs have been particularly struck by the pandemic. Numerous academic works have shown the disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 among American Indian and Alaska Native populations with exceptionally high rates of morbidity and mortality from the virus [3,4,5].

In the broader Arctic context, recent research has highlighted the complex challenges faced by Arctic communities during the COVID-19 pandemic, including socioeconomic vulnerabilities and significant mental and physical health impacts experienced by residents across various regions of the Arctic [5,6,7,8,9]. These challenges were particularly pronounced in historically disinvested and underserved communities. A growing body of gender-focused Arctic research also reveals that during the pandemic, the effects varied significantly across genders, with women disproportionately bearing negative impacts, including increased household responsibilities [10,11] and heightened risks associated with maternal health [12,13], mental health and well-being [14], and domestic violence [15,16,17], among others.

The pandemic’s impacts and consequences varied also across Arctic communities, with many remote Indigenous communities experiencing additional challenges due to limitations in the public health system and food insecurity, further exacerbating pre-existing significant socioeconomic disparities compared to other populations [18,19,20,21]. At the same time, Indigenous Peoples in the Arctic consistently demonstrated remarkable resilience, even during the pandemic crisis, drawing on Indigenous knowledge and self-determination [22]—both those living on their ancestral lands and those who had relocated to urban areas. With respect to general urban Indigenous experiences, the body of literature is expanding [23,24,25,26]; however, only a limited number of studies employ a gender-based approach, leaving the multifaceted challenges and opportunities faced by Indigenous women in urban settings largely overlooked [27,28].

A significant knowledge gap remains from a comparative perspective regarding Indigenous women’s experiences, particularly during the pandemic, in Arctic urban versus rural Indigenous communities.

1.2. Goal and Research Questions

This paper aims to improve the understanding of the gender impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Indigenous women in Alaska and identify constraints and strengths to individual and community resilience in both rural and urban Indigenous communities of the city of Anchorage, the hub community of Nome, and its neighboring rural com-munities on the Seward Peninsula during emergencies such as the COVID-19 crisis in order to support informed gender-oriented policy response strategies.

The primary research questions that the research team seeks to address in this paper are as follows:

• What are the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Indigenous women in urban and rural Alaska, and specifically what are the gendered implications in the personal, sociocultural, and economic domains?
• What are the strengths associated with women’s responses to COVID-19 that contribute to individual and community resilience during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and what are the constraints?

1.3. Conceptual Framework

While most COVID-19 pandemic-related studies often use deficit-based models with an emphasis on the problems and weaknesses of vulnerable groups or remote communities, this research combines this approach with a strength-based perspective that is oriented towards women’s empowerment and resilience by highlighting their unique skills, achievements, resourcefulness, and potentials. This comprehensive framework can lead to a more holistic understanding of the reality and offer balanced and effective solutions to social issues and community resilience related to the COVID-19 pandemic [22,29,30]. A strength-based framing is highly important when conducting research with Indigenous communities [19,31,32]. Besides revealing attributes of individual resilience, it allows us to better acknowledge and incorporate Traditional Knowledge, Indigenous cultural practices, and community solidarity in our analytical framework. Our conceptual framework includes both factors that present strengths that contribute to resilience in Indigenous communities and factors that serve as constraints to such resilience.

A model of gendered aspects of strengths and constraints to resilience in Alaska includes domains previously developed by our multidisciplinary research team [30,33]. The initial framework was modified and expanded based on community input in the process of interviews and consultations as the research progressed. This framework is crucial to capture, measure, and assimilate quantitative and qualitative data, as well as to determine the state of constraints and strengths to community resilience in the prism of gendered impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and policy and community responses (Figure 1).

Our framework includes five key domains, three of which encompass individual and community aspects of COVID-19 impacts and responses (personal, sociocultural, and economic), and the remaining two represent broader societal dimensions (civic and political). Although all domains are important for comprehensively describing women’s resilience to the pandemic, this paper focuses on three key individual and community domains. These domains are examined through the dual lens of constraints (a deficit-based approach) and strengths (a strength-based perspective), providing insights into both individual and community resilience.

Personal domain: During the pandemic, Indigenous women in Alaska faced unique challenges related to the compounded impacts of remoteness, healthcare inaccessibility, and limited access to essential services, including reproductive healthcare [34]. Importantly, most women in Indigenous urban communities were deprived of family visits to their ancestral homelands that increased feelings of being lonely and completely isolated, and some also experienced challenges with access to nature sites and practicing spiritual healing and self-care [23].

Similar to many other regions of the world under stay-at-home orders and school closures, Indigenous women faced multifaceted challenges and an increased burden of responsibilities at home. Childcare, homeschooling, elderly care, and housework—often regarded as part of the female domain due to sexism in household labor—placed significant additional strain on women during the pandemic and lockdowns.

Sociocultural domain: Due to social distancing and stay-at-home orders, there were extended disruptions of community-based cultural practices and gatherings. An increase in preexisting domestic violence blighted many lives of Indigenous women in Arctic communities, compounded by limited access to support services—an issue that was particularly critical during lockdowns [15,16,35,36,37,38,39].

Economic domain: Worldwide, pre-existing gender inequalities in the economic sphere leave women more vulnerable to COVID-19-related effects [40]. In Arctic regions where the natural resource economy and other male-dominated sectors are prevalent, factors contributing to economic gender inequality include persistent ‘glass walls’, such as horizontal professional clustering, the segregation of women into lower-wage jobs and industries, gendered biases and stereotypes surrounding ‘male’ and ‘female’ occupations, and employer-driven gender-based discrimination [41].

In most Indigenous rural communities, traditional economic activities based on the land and water remain essential not only for food security but also for social relations, cultural practices, and the preservation of identity. These communities are uniquely characterized by a mixed economy, combining wage-based employment with elements of traditional Indigenous subsistence economies. Like other Arctic regions, Indigenous women in smaller Alaskan settlements, largely due to their relatively higher levels of educational attainment, tend to hold wage jobs—primarily in the public sector—while also remaining involved in subsistence activities [41,42]. However, with limited economic and professional opportunities for women in rural areas, along with other complex socio-economic factors, a longstanding trend of “female flight” is prevalent in many Indigenous communities in Alaska [43,44]. This phenomenon, characterized by women migrating to larger towns and cities in search of better prospects, had a profound and multifaceted impact both on their rural communities and on the Indigenous women who chose to live in urban settings, particularly during lockdowns.

2. Methodology

2.1. Study Region

This study is based on interviews that were conducted in Alaska between November and December 2022, with follow-up feedback collected in August–October 2024. It involved self-identified Indigenous women living in the city of Anchorage, the hub community of Nome, and its neighboring rural communities on the Seward Peninsula. The specific rural communities are not disclosed due to the small population size, which could potentially compromise the confidentiality of research participants.

Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city (291,000), provides an example of a fully urbanized community with living experiences, job market, and infrastructure similar to other large cities in the United States. The share of Indigenous Peoples (American Indians and Alaska Natives) in Anchorage is 7% (2022). The City of Nome represents a fly-in and barge-accessible-only rural hub community for surrounding villages on the southern Seward Peninsula coast, with 3600 residents (2024), low density, and limited urban infrastructure and services. The Alaska Natives (primarily Inupiaq, Central Yup’ik, and St. Lawrence Island Yup’ik) make up a significant portion of this population (56.6%) and retain cohesive Indigenous community life and traditional social structures. Nome’s residents are heavily involved in subsistence activities such as hunting, fishing, and gathering (in addition to mining and public sectors). In smaller rural settlements in the Nome Census area, the population is predominantly ethnically homogeneous, with Indigenous Peoples constituting, on average, 95% or more of the total demographic, leading to greater community cohesion. At the same time, the population structure, marked by a skewed female-to-male ratio, affects the communities’ overall sustainability and resilience. On average, women are more engaged in the wage and mixed economy. This is reflected in their median monetary income, which is approximately 20% higher than that of their male counterparts, who are more involved in the non-monetary subsistence economy. The predominant employment sector is female-oriented, encompassing public administration, education, social services, health services, and related fields, accounting for over 60% of the workforce.

2.2. Research Approach

This study was set up to integrate diverse information flows from different age groups, professions, and urban and rural settings in Alaska. The research team implemented a mixed-method study design, where quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed sequentially, concurrently, and iteratively at different stages of the research.

A total of 17 in-depth interviews were conducted using open-ended questions: 8 with participants residing in Anchorage and 9 in Nome and its neighboring rural communities. Special focus was placed on Indigenous women in urban and rural settings to account for COVID-19 impacts and responses distinct for diverse Indigenous communities. The following recruitment parameters were set as selection criteria: age (the participants must be aged 21 years or older), gender identity (identifying themselves as females), ethnic identity (identifying themselves as Indigenous (specifically, Alaska Natives)), and residence location during the COVID-19 pandemic (Anchorage, Nome, and neighboring villages (these rural communities are not disclosed given the small number of residents that can potentially put research participants at risk).

Information on employment, marital status, children, homeownership, or houselessness was voluntarily provided by most interview participants. In addition, some participants shared information about their enrollment in the subsistence economy and practices, as well as spheres of employment that included education workers (higher education), small business entrepreneurs, independent artists, healthcare workers, community health workers, social workers, tribal organization professionals, non-profit workers, retired, partially or fully enrolled in the subsistence economy during the pandemic, unemployed, and experienced a job loss during the pandemic temporarily or continuing at the time of interview. Importantly, this study included stake-, rights- and knowledge holders, as well as youth leaders.

Participant recruitment was carried out by Indigenous partners, key personnel, and knowledge-holders through several means: (1) personal contacts; (2) social media platforms (Facebook); (3) advertisement flyers at local objects of critical infrastructure (healthcare facilities, grocery stores, etc.); and (4) snowball sampling to approach the contacts of interview participants.

Research Design Limitations

This study has limitations concerning implementing Indigenous research design and methods. We used standard research tools with elements of “interpretative flexibility” by incorporating “components that reflect cultural diversity and meanings and interpretations anchored in Indigenous ways of knowing, seeing, and understanding” [45] (p. 113). The research team recognizes that Indigenous gender constructs deeply rooted in sociocultural contexts significantly differ from Western gender norms [46] (p. 81), [47]. Although these constructs are vital for a comprehensive understanding of the lived experiences of Indigenous Peoples in Alaska, attempting to fit them into Western research would diminish their fullness by incompatibility.

2.3. Research Principles

The study recognizes the importance of an Indigenizing research process, including research teams, methods, timeframes, data analysis, and results interpretation and dissemination [48,49,50,51]. The research team aimed to ensure that geographical research is respectful and inclusive of Indigenous knowledge, is ethically conducted, and addresses urgent community needs and priorities.

The research team included both Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars who have broad experience and long-term relationships working with Indigenous communities in the Arctic. In addition to senior researchers, a local Indigenous researcher/community knowledge holder was hired to participate in the project working meetings, contribute to the recruitment process and scheduling interviews, and provide feedback on research procedures, local cultural contexts, and urgent community needs.

The research team adhered to the principles for conducting research in Indigenous communities in the Arctic, including prioritizing practically oriented research that addresses community needs [52], implementing “humanized” research procedures [46,53,54,55], emphasizing personal storytelling and a voice-centered approach [51,56], employing the “two-eyed seeing” method [57], and ensuring research accuracy by soliciting participant and local Indigenous organizations feedback on the research team’s interpretations [45,58], and contribution to Indigenous cultures and languages [59], among others (see a detailed description of principles implemented in this study in Appendix A,

Table A1. Principles for conducting research in Arctic Indigenous communities implemented in this study.

Research Principles	Description of Principles Implemented in This Study
A suitable time frame selection for interviews [52]	The research team adjusted the interview schedule in accordance with the Indigenous seasonal calendar and traditional subsistence activities (hunting, fishing, gathering, etc.), ceremonies, etc. Usually, most research activities are conducted during academic summer breaks and can cause additional disruptions to communities during the busy hunting/fishing/gathering season. To prevent the most inconvenience, the community visits were scheduled for November–December.
Research responsive to community needs [52]	The research goal, objectives, and questions should be relevant to community needs to ensure that the outcomes are practical, meaningful, and beneficial for addressing the specific challenges the community faces.
Safety-first approach	Given the elevated risks and consequences while working with remote communities and to minimize any possible risks related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the preparation for in-person interviews included updated booster vaccination, masks, daily home testing, and keeping social distance.
Humanized research (interviews) procedures	The research team created a welcoming, safe, and conveniently located physical space that would be private and quiet with a relaxed and informal atmosphere where participants would feel safe, comfortable, and less intimidated so they are more comfortable for open conversation. Special attention was given to the details, including different seating options, ambient lights, comfortable temperature, Indigenous ivory carvings, and a natural hide rug placed on the coach that was appreciated by many participants. Although it is usually recommended for focus groups format to provide coffee/tea and snacks for participants, the team adapted this practice as comfort food and refreshments are not only appreciated by research participants but also may trigger a temporary feeling of calm and stress relief [53,54,55] and “fuel a positive environment” [46] (p. 83).
“A voice-centered approach to interpretation” [56] (p. 213)	The research team included extensive quotes from the interviews in the paper to allow readers to directly engage with the participants’ voices and to ensure that their experiences are conveyed in their own words, adding credibility to the research findings.
Indigenous holistic and multi-layered approach to health and well-being [46,52]	To the best possible degree, the researchers incorporated Indigenous “wholistic” and multi-layered approach to health and well-being, “which encompasses the spiritual, emotional, metal, and physical elements of being, <while also acknowledging> past, present and future” [46] (p. 74), into the research’s conceptual framework.
A “two-eyed seeing” approach [57]	Working together, Indigenous and non-Indigenous research team members were using “one eye with the strengths of Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing” to learn about gender inequality issues, underlying conditions, and possible solutions and using “the other eye with the strengths of Western knowledges and way of knowing and to using both these eyes together, for the benefit of all” [57] (p. 335).
Open-ended questions that invite personal storytelling and are also practically oriented [51]	The open-ended interview questions were designed to allow the engagement of participants in meaningful conversation and sharing through personal stories that “are born of connections within the world and are recounted relationally” [51] (p. 158). Some research questions are intentionally designed to not only to generate knowledge but also to shape policy and practice in ways that benefit Indigenous lives, highlighting the far-reaching impact of research. [51] (p. 242).
Indigenous communities’ control over research, data collection, and analysis processes [52,58]	Through local partnerships we received the approval from the Alaska Area Institutional Review Board (AAIRB) and Tribal Research Review from the Norton Sound Health Corporation Research Ethics and Review (NSCH RERB) Board to conduct research, including data collection and analysis.
Research verification/soliciting feedback/knowledge-sharing and reporting back [45,52]	The preliminary results of the study were disseminated to all research participants who had email access. This distribution aimed to facilitate knowledge sharing, ensure the accuracy of the interpretations, and invite participant feedback to refine the final version of the paper [45] (p. 115).
Approval on data dissemination from the local Indigenous entity [52]	The approval for use of the research materials (including quotes from the interviews) for publication and presentation at the conferences was obtained from the NSCH RERB.
Contribution to Indigenous culture and language [59]	To ensure the research is contributing to Indigenous language revitalization, the most significant study findings and quotes from the interviews will be translated into Iñupiaq, a regional language in the Nome area, and published on the COVID-GEA project website and social media platforms in both written and oral forms.

).

2.4. Data Collection and Interview Procedures

This paper is a part of the Project “Understanding the Gendered Impacts of COVID-19 in the Arctic” (COVID-GEA). All COVID-GEA researchers underwent the ethics training and human subjects Institutional Review Board (IRB) process to ensure that all interviewees were safe disclosing their personal information. The research team also followed community cultural protocols for fieldwork research. The study was approved by the Alaska Area Institutional Review Board (IRB) (approval 17 April 2022), the George Washington University IRB (approval NCR213739), and the NSCH RERB (approved on 4 October 2022). To obtain community consent and engagement, the research team solicited a community review of the project’s activities as directed by the Norton Sound Health Corporation.

The research team conducted a total of 17 in-depth interviews. These semi-structured interviews were conducted in safe places or via Zoom. More specifically, the research team interviewed 13 participants in the format of in-person interviews and 1 participant using the Zoom platform. The interviews lasted for a mean time of around 80 min (range between 20 min (Zoom interview) and 2.5 h, depending on participants’ time availability). With the research participants’ permission, the interviews were recorded.

Before the interview, the participants were informed about the purpose of the study and research objectives, research project design, involved research procedures, the study cites, the duration of participation, potential risks and benefits, the process of privacy and confidentiality, data protection, and data sovereignty. Participants agreed to contribute to the research by signing written informed consent forms that also emphasized that participation was entirely voluntary, and participants had a right to decline to participate and withdraw from the study at any time without penalty. Additionally, all participants were offered to exclude questions they were uncomfortable discussing. The study provided compensation of USD 50 to all participants for their time as a part of the project funding provided by the National Science Foundation.

The research questions focused on the COVID-19 impacts on the main domains of gender equality: personal, social, economic, civic, and political. Upon the completion of each interview, the researchers shared with participants a summary of the information and its interpretation to solicit immediate feedback and correct statements that needed more accurate interpretation. To ensure the accuracy of the interview interpretations, the preliminary results of the study were shared with all research participants who had email accounts and Internet access. A second round of interviews was conducted with participants who were willing to provide feedback on the preliminary research findings. Their input was incorporated into the final version of the paper.

2.5. Data Management

The use of interviews for research purposes, and subsequent treatment of these data, was conducted with all measures to preserve the confidentiality of the participants. All audio-recorded interviews were securely transcribed to undertake a content analysis; individually identifying information was removed from recordings or transcripts to protect the participants’ anonymity. No direct identifiers were included in the database. The research team used an alphanumeric code system (e.g., Interviewee 1, Interviewee 2), and only de-identified quotes are included in this publication.

2.6. Data Analysis

We used “ATLAS.ti”(Version 23.4.0) software for thematic coding, content and discourse annotation, and qualitative analysis. The analysis began by reading the content of each transcript. The next step involved focusing on the major domains of gender impacts. To ensure the trustworthiness of the results, researchers independently reviewed all the data and discussed their findings to include a “two-eyed seeing” perspective coming from Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers. When analyzing primary data, the research team considered the cultural or institutional contexts in which the data were generated for potential biases. After discussion, the final set of themes and codes was agreed upon, the results are described in this paper.

3. Results

The interviews revealed the importance of key domains related to the gendered impacts of the pandemic, highlighting both similarities and differences in the spectrum of gendered strengths and constraints to resilience in Indigenous urban and rural communities. In alignment with the study’s methodological framework and guiding research principles, this section includes direct quotes from participants. This approach ensures that space is created for participants’ voices to be meaningfully heard, allowing the experiences of Indigenous women to be represented authentically and conveyed with nuance and depth.

The table (

Table 1. Gendered aspects of strengths and constraints to Indigenous women’s individual and community resilience in Alaska during the COVID-19 pandemic based on interviews with research participants.

Personal		Sociocultural		Economic
Constraints	Strengths	Constraints	Strengths	Constraints	Strengths
Limited communication, isolation, and loss of relationships.   Grief, heightened stress levels, and an intensified sense of responsibility and guilt.   Increased mental, emotional, and physical health problems.   Imbalanced gender roles at home (mostly urban).   Limited availability of mental health support designed by and for Indigenous women.	Adaptability to new technologies (personal online communication).   Ability to reconceptualize priorities, redefine personal goals, and reevaluate personal values.   Crisis preparedness and the capacity for renewing meaning and value.   Ability to reconceptualize resilience.   Ability to balance perspectives.   Resourcefulness, ability to support relatives in rural Alaska (mostly urban).   Ability to stay (re)connected with nature for physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual healing.   Adaptability to new working and studying conditions.   Capacity to strengthen personal growth (mostly urban).   A community-centered conception of personal happiness.	Intensified collective trauma and memories of the past.   Increased inequality in power relationships at home.   Increased domestic violence.   Decreased community engagement and participation in sociocultural practices.   Challenges in fulfilling the role of community caretakers (mostly rural).   Increased racism and gender-based discrimination (mostly urban).   Elevated rates of being unhoused (mostly urban).	Stewardship position of women.   Adaptability to new technologies (community virtual gatherings, etc.).   Ability to keep solidarity and provide mutual support (mostly rural).   Ability to form women’s support groups and practice female healing traditions.   Ability of female Elders to preserve spiritual guidance.   Ability to preserve and re-engage with traditional cultural activities.   Strengthened sense of community and belonging (mostly rural).	Persistent gender division of labor; low-paid female occupations/positions (mostly urban).   Altered working and studying conditions and stalled careers. Zoom fatigue.   Increased job losses, job instability and insecurity (mostly urban)   Diminished financial capacity.   Geographical complications and eligibility gaps (mostly urban).   Disrupted subsistence activities, increased food insecurity.	Women’s engagement in the wage and mixed economy.   Capacity to strengthen professional growth (mostly urban).   Ability to exercise gender equality traditions in subsistence economy (mostly rural).   Ability to start women-led community-oriented or Indigenous cultures-oriented businesses (mostly urban).   Shifts in workplace values.

Source: Based on community input. Organized in accordance with COVID-19 gender impact indicators (COVID-GIIs) [33].

) summarizes our key findings, followed by a detailed gender analysis of the interviews.

The results below are presented in a structured progression across personal, sociocultural, and economic domains, beginning with an analysis of the constraints faced by the research participants, followed by an examination of the strengths and adaptive strategies that emerged in response to the pandemic.

3.1. Personal Domain

3.1.1. Constraints to Personal Resilience During the Pandemic

• Limited communication, isolation, and loss of relationships: Social distancing, stay-at-home orders, and other restrictive social measures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic had significant repercussions on various facets of women’s personal lives, profoundly impacting their mental health and psychological well-being:

“During the pandemic, it was very hard because you couldn’t visit your loved ones…it was very hard…”

(The Nome rural area, 60s).

“We stayed inside our house for six weeks… we’re depressed because we haven’t socialized… We’re all human beings. We all crave social interaction with each other.”

(Anchorage, 50s).

The pandemic notably exacerbated feelings of isolation and loneliness among Indigenous urban residents who were distanced from their communities and unable to visit family. Indigenous women, in particular, who lived alone in urban settings faced significant challenges during this period due to the absence of the customary support systems of family, friends, and their home communities:

“I think I just got disconnected. A lot of my friendships have even ended just because we haven’t kept in touch for whatever reasons. I live alone… I think that people living alone have been forgotten…”

(Anchorage, 30s).

While modern technologies have become integral to maintaining communication during the pandemic, they could not fully substitute for close, in-person interactions for many Indigenous women. In particular, body language and silence in conversation hold significant cultural importance in many Indigenous cultures in Alaska, being deeply rooted in their traditions and communication styles. Being present and maintaining silence is a form of respect, as it allows individuals to listen attentively, fostering deeper understanding and mutual respect in conversations:

“We use a lot of our body language and a lot of unspoken language and laughter, a lot of laughter.”

(Nome/Anchorage, 30s).

“I feel like our technology use has really privileged the verbal communication… For those of us like myself that grew up not speaking so much and just being with somebody and being in their space, being in their energy and being able to provide that just comfort of self, it’s just not the same sitting on the telephone quietly with somebody… You can still text somebody, but it’s just not the same as sitting with them, and I think that’s part of it too, is all the non-verbal things…”

(Anchorage, 40s).

Social distancing measures and restrictions significantly altered traditional family and community interactions, leading to substantial changes in communication patterns after the pandemic:

“So that’s a new adjustment to getting used to going back to being a social person after not being very sociable. Now, I just don’t talk as much as I did before. It’s more of sweet, simple, cordial interactions instead of in-depth conversations of catching up with people.”

(Anchorage, 40s).

• Grief, heightened stress levels, and an intensified sense of responsibility and guilt: In Alaska, Indigenous families extend beyond the Western concept of a nuclear family, encompassing a broader network of relatives, kinship, and community ties. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this extended family structure meant that many Indigenous communities experienced profound loss, as the virus claimed the lives of many family members, relatives, and entire community members. These losses caused deep personal grief:

“<In respect to> other women’s experiences… Looking back, it <the pandemic-author’s> did take a huge toll of stress, where I’ve noticed that it’s aged them just from the stress alone, from the pandemic and losing so many family members, that’s a huge toll and on making more mental health issues…”

(Anchorage, 40s).

Thirteen women experienced heightened levels of stress not only due to the threat of the virus itself but also as a result of various pandemic-related circumstances:

“It was very stressful and very scary with a virus that I didn’t know how it was going to affect. Am I washing my hands enough, am I cleaning the house enough, should I be going to work during the pandemic?”

(Nome, 30s).

“The anxiety of not knowing if you’re going to be homeless the next day, and waiting for it, I think that’s the most terrifying thing about the pandemic…”

(Anchorage, 30s).

“I think the most stressful thing for women in my hometown was worrying that their kids would get it <virus-authors> and get really sick or worrying about their Elders… I was more so thinking about my dad and my elderly family members…”

(Nome/Anchorage, 30s).

Intensified sense of responsibility for self, family, Elders, and community, combined with the fear of transmitting the virus to vulnerable family members, added an additional layer of stress and resulted in a constant feeling of guilt. Women working in traditionally female-dominated sectors such as healthcare, social care, education, and childcare, particularly those serving as frontline workers, found themselves in a particularly vulnerable position associated with the risks of their professions. For instance, women in healthcare roles, especially those who were pregnant, experienced enormous stress from uncertainty surrounding the virus, in addition to concerns about bringing the virus home and putting the family members at risk:

“I was pregnant, which was very hard because I was in this constant unknown of am I going to bring the virus back, is it going to affect my baby, is it going to affect my dad, who is a lot older. I was in this constant unknown of whether I was doing the right thing by going to work, which was stressful and hard, especially as a nurse.”

(This citation is anonymized to protect the participant’s privacy).

In addition, healthcare workers faced dilemmas about their family safety versus professional duty and responsibility for home community Elders who were in the hospitals, compounded by concerns over spreading the virus to family members or community at large:

“… I should be going to work because I need to take care of my Elders because that’s something that’s super important and letting my Elders know that they’re not alone, that they’re not being forgotten, that they’re not outcasts or, … untouchables in a way, because we had a lot of people who were in the hospital that missed that interaction.”

(A healthcare professional; this citation is anonymized to protect the participant’s privacy).

• Increased mental, emotional, and physical health problems: The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected women’s physical, mental, and emotional health and well-being, manifesting in increased anxiety and depression. The cumulative toll has been substantial, as evidenced by numerous reports of exhaustion and exacerbated health concerns:

“In isolation, that’s when I started having more severe mental health issues and stuff like that.”

(Anchorage, 30s).

“Ever since the pandemic I have lost my appetite… Now I’m down to 135 <pounds–authors>.”

(Nome, 64+).

“I went through two and a half years of a living hell… I got COVID…. So, my health, hair loss… Because my kids were going through what they were going through, I didn’t get any healthcare for three years. I’m having to catch up all of my healthcare now… I don’t think people realize how hard it is to be homeless… If you don’t have a home and you haven’t had a home in more than a year, that’s really hard. Homeless, mental health care, on top of which…”

(Anchorage, 40s).

Pregnant women, particularly in remote Indigenous communities, faced increased vulnerabilities during the pandemic. Strict quarantine and isolation measures, limited access to healthcare services, transportation risks associated with childbirth, and, in some cases, heightened risks of domestic violence may have led some women to reconsider the decision to become mothers again.

The pandemic has exacerbated the “third shift” or mental load that women predominantly bear at home [60]. The expanded scope of cognitive labor included organizing household activities, planning safety measures, verifying information sources, remembering family vaccine appointments, creating entertainment ideas for children, etc. According to narratives from our study participants, this mental load extended beyond immediate family to encompass extended relatives and even other Indigenous community members, emphasizing the broader social responsibilities shouldered by women:

“In our culture, women have always been the ones who were the caregivers. It probably fell on a lot of women in general to try to figure out how to care for their families, who’s getting the water, who’s getting the supplies, what are we going to do if we don’t have enough supplies? I feel like that’s something that I always have to think about because I’m a woman. I’m providing not only for my daughter, but also for my dad and worrying about who’s going to take care of him, who’s going to take care of my siblings.”

(Nome, 30s).

Indigenous women provided outstanding commitment combined with enormous efforts to keep their families, Elders, and their communities safe and afloat. But an unprecedented scale of challenges put them into situation when they risked their mental health and overall psychological well-being by the inability to attend their own needs:

“One of the things that will help us <is-authors> making sure that you do yourself care before you take care of others. That’s the hardest part women have to learn, because we’re so used to taking care of everyone else, and we don’t have enough for ourselves. You have to keep your teacup full.”

(Anchorage, 30s).

This cultural tradition of mutual support within Indigenous women’s ancestorial communities faces greater challenges when transposed to larger, diverse urban environments, where social dynamics and communal structures differ significantly:

“I think the biggest shift for me is, I basically realized that… in a lot of my friendships, I was overextending myself in certain ways that was really harmful to me. And that’s kind of at the root of why I didn’t have the support network that I needed during the pandemic. But I’ve learned to be more grounded and centered in myself… <Now-authors> I’m just being more intentional about who I keep close to me.”

(Anchorage, 30s).

• Imbalanced gender roles at home: During the pandemic, the lingering effects of colonization, which imposed Western gender roles, became increasingly evident. The study revealed that, similar to many Western societies experiencing significant impacts on gender roles and family dynamics during the pandemic, most Indigenous female participants saw their roles as primary caregivers and first responders at home intensified:

“I think a lot of women got a lot on their shoulders because they’re the mothers and the caretakers.”

(Anchorage, 40s).

“I feel like it led to a lot of weight on the people taking care of the family, the moms who took care of not only their kids, but the Elders or taking care of their husbands…”

(Anchorage, 30s).

Seven research participants reported facing additional challenges related to their caregiving responsibilities for children, primarily due to limited access to healthcare services, ranging from routine medical appointments to critical care:

“We stayed there <in Anchorage–authors> for two weeks and she <my daughter–authors> never got her tonsils removed… She missed quite a bit of school. I missed work.”

(The Nome rural area, 40s).

The pandemic evidenced equitable gendered labor within households, with twelve women reporting increased responsibilities for cleaning, cooking, and caring for children, partners, parents, and relatives. During the initial months of the pandemic, shortages of essential goods, such as medicine, groceries, and sanitary products, disproportionately affected women, who were often in charge of household provisioning, especially in urban areas. The necessity for heightened household cleanliness and disinfection to prevent virus transmission significantly added to the daily workload, particularly challenging rural Alaskan communities, where many households still lack running water and washing machines:

“I think a lot of women… had to make sure everything was disinfected, and the kids were healthy and eating good.”

(The Nome area, 40s).

There were mixed experiences regarding support within families and with male counterparts. While five research participants highlighted communal support at home, the remaining participants reported receiving little to no help from partners or male relatives when it came to an increased toll of household responsibilities.

• Limited availability of mental health support designed by and for Indigenous women: Our participants reported that the existing mental health system is insufficient in fully addressing the needs of Indigenous women due to their distinct life experiences, sociocultural backgrounds, and the ongoing impacts of historical trauma:

“I know mental health [support-authors] is … in such high demand… I asked specifically, when I was selecting a new therapist, no men. I want to be able to relate to … or I want someone to have an understanding of how historical trauma works, so they can empathize, but we’re not trauma bonding. That’s how a lot of women around Alaska bond; we trauma bond.”

(Anchorage, 30s).

“I mean, we need mental health support, period. That’s crucial. We need a variety of mental health support… Because not everybody just needs an individual therapist. Some people need trauma therapists… We need outpatient all the way up to residential care providers. And right now, we know there’s a huge shortage.“

(Anchorage, 40s).

3.1.2. Strengths for Resilience in the Personal Domain

• Adaptability to new technologies (personal online communication): The interviews revealed that the lack of social interaction with family, friends, and community was deeply felt, and the importance of technologies to continue social connections, even in virtual format, was emphasized as critical for supporting mental and emotional health and well-being:

“I was lucky, I had my phone, I had reliable service, I had the sense of community, I was able to contact my family to ask them how they were doing. That really helped me during the pandemic. I know not everybody was as fortunate as I was to have a phone or be able to contact other people to see and make sure that they were okay, “Do you have enough food? Are you making your bills? Are your kids driving you crazy? Do you want to talk about it?”

(Nome, 30s).

“Being able to FaceTime was amazing, that was something that was very, very helpful in just having that connection… with our phones was probably the most helpful. I definitely feel like it helped women in particular, just having that connection with other moms and being able to talk about it or being able to talk to other friends and family was something that was super important.”

(Nome, 30s).

• The COVID-19 pandemic compelled women to reconceptualize their priorities, redefine personal goals, and critically reevaluate their core values. Leading to a deeper focus on well-being, resilience, and meaningful relationships, it ultimately fostered a stronger sense of resilience in navigating challenges:

“I think I’ve learned to prioritize my mental health, and … and I’m really grateful for that. I’ve also reflected a lot on the quality of my friendships. I have a really great support network as a result. Yeah, I’m also just trying to focus more on gratitude. And regardless of my circumstances, just feeling grounded and confident in myself.”

(Anchorage, 30s).

• Crisis preparedness and the capacity for renewing meaning: By reflecting on their personal histories, women sought to gain insights essential for crisis preparedness:

“…We grew up really conscious of disasters and prepared for them. My dad raised us, he would have us play, “Okay, a tsunami’s coming, you have 30 s to get whatever you need and get out of the house.” So, we would prepare for those kinds of things… I’ve always been kind of conscious about that, being able to be self-sustainable…”

(Nome, 20s).

Six women also reflected on their livelihoods and traditional values during times of crisis. For example, the practical significance of Indigenous subsistence gained renewed meaning during the pandemic, leading to a deeper appreciation of Indigenous heritage:

“COVID didn’t change how we harvested and gathered. If anything, we saw the importance of why it was so important to keep that <traditional subsistence-authors> going.”

(Nome, 20s).

• The ability to reconceptualize resilience—from rigid endurance to fluid, gratitude-centered adaptive understanding—illuminates how Indigenous women’s experiences of the pandemic challenged conventional Western notions of strength and reshaped them through more relational, flexible coping strategies:

“My understanding of resilience has changed… Before, I used to think of it as, “Oh yeah, I can really take a beating and get back up,” and now it’s like even though I’m experiencing turbulent times, I can go with the flow a little bit. And that in and of itself is a protective factor. And then I still find something to be grateful about, regardless of those circumstances. So yeah, my concept of resilience has changed dramatically…I think to summarize it, it’s really rigidity versus flexibility.”

(Anchorage, 30s).

• The ability to balance perspectives: One participant shared her approach to healing and self-determination, emphasizing the importance of cultivating balanced emotional responses that navigate between personal growth-oriented optimism and the acknowledgment of hardship in the broader context of the pandemic and beyond:

“I’m really glad that I decided to grow from these experiences because I do think it would be so easy to pursue really unhealthy coping mechanisms. I think a lot of people still are, but to me,… I can have a level of optimism about whatever comes my way now because I know that I will choose to grow and to be happy… We’re going to be talking about the pandemic …, but there is again, some beauty in that, regardless…I think it’s just really important to take a really balanced approach. I think it’s another point to be made, is I really do think that there is such a thing as toxic positivity. So, it is about finding that middle ground. I think even in challenging times we can still be uplifting.”

(Anchorage, 30s).

• Resourcefulness and ability to support relatives in rural Alaska: For many rural communities, Indigenous urbanites became a resource dedicated to stabilizing entire extended families in home villages, especially in the first weeks/months of the pandemic.

This practice is a part of the traditional support system where each individual’s welfare is tied to the community’s overall health. This system is based on collective responsibility and interconnectedness, and ensures the well-being and survival of all members:

“…helping family stock up on supplies locally and to send stuff to the village.”

(Anchorage, 40s).

• Ability to stay (re)connected with nature for physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual healing: In Indigenous communities, access to nature is vital to mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health. The interviews suggest that cultural traditions are deeply intertwined with healing practices, emphasizing holistic approaches to health. Rooted in Indigenous traditions of deep connection to the natural world combined with traditional subsistence were sources of healing during the pandemic, strengthening personal resilience and spiritual health. While in most rural communities, even during lockdowns, access to nature was not significantly disturbed, in the urban environment, women had to make efforts to find a way to stay connected with nature:

“Fortunately, here in Anchorage, we were encouraged to get outdoors, enjoy our parks. So, I’m really thankful that we had those available to us… I started committing to daily walks outside, and I made a point of just being very present during those walks, regardless of the weather, and just appreciating what I observed and experienced.”

(Anchorage, 30s).

“Me coming from a holistic lifestyle, and subsistence lifestyle, I feel as though I was better prepared for the pandemic because I was raised on the land… I already knew to be outside and love outside.”

(Anchorage, 30s).

Traditional knowledge and practices, such as the use of Native medicinal plants, were highlighted as valuable resources for coping with the pandemic and maintaining physical health:

“During the pandemic and when I had Covid I think the traditional medicines were a very big plus…”

(The Nome region, 60s).

Interviewees living in Anchorage reported that their connection to nature facilitated their ability to maintain individual emotional and spiritual healing practices by seeking out quiet places for (re)connection:

“I do seek places of sanctuary here <in Anchorage–authors>, and when I see others struggling with finding their peace, I share that place with them, too.”

(Anchorage, 30s).

The pandemic led some urbanites to revert to a “subsistence lifestyle, finding solace in the natural world away from the stresses.” (Anchorage, 30s).

• Adaptability to new working and studying conditions: Women had to adapt to new conditions, including remote study and work, and despite incredible challenges, particularly for those members of Indigenous communities living in overcrowded households, they demonstrated an extremely high level of resilience in pursuing their work and study duties:

“A lot of my <female> students, when I teach a distance class, I know a lot of them live with other people in crowded conditions… it’s clear they don’t have a quiet space to get away from it all. And apparently whoever else is in the house with them takes absolutely no regard to the fact that they’re trying to take a class… Most of them are actually mothers and wives. I totally admire them for that, because I could not focus in an environment like that… That might have been temporarily worse during the pandemic, when everybody was more cooped together. But that’s going to be a constant problem…“

(Nome, non-Indigenous participant).

“…Sometimes they have to go to the library or the hospital to study or work.”

(Nome, 64+).

• Despite challenges of isolation, many Indigenous women found ways to pursue their traditional activities and even developed new hobbies, demonstrating capacity to strengthen personal growth and ability to maintain social and cultural ties:

“…. I tried new hobbies, mostly crafts. I tried a little bit of beading, crocheting. I’ve tried some woodworking, and I really enjoy it… as I started doing these things, little by little, and also as more in person interactions were available, I was able to just grow the different activities and hobbies I got to try… I’ve gotten really into painting. I had a virtual skin sewing workshop that I attended, where we made mittens. It was led by an Elder who also shared a lot of life advice during the workshop, and just made a point to get to know each of us on a more personal level…”

(Anchorage, 30s).

• A community-centered conception of personal happiness, indirectly reflected in our fourteen interviews, stands in contrast to Western, more individualistic notions of happiness, highlighting the relational and reciprocal dimensions of Indigenous women’s experiences. By centering community well-being and interconnectedness, Indigenous women offer an alternative framework for happiness and women’s agency rooted in collective empowerment and cultural resilience. A community-centered conception of personal happiness, as an Indigenous perspective indirectly mentioned by our interviewees, stands in contrast to Western more individualistic notions of happiness, highlighting the relational and reciprocal dimensions of Indigenous women’s experiences. By centering community well-being and interconnectedness, Indigenous women offer an alternative framework for happiness and women’s agency rooted in collective empowerment and cultural resilience. This perspective was explicitly articulated by one of our participants:

“I’ve learned that… just sharing with other people makes me happy, and having a sense of community, having a sense of togetherness, that really makes me happy.”

(Anchorage, 30s).

3.2. Sociocultural Domain

3.2.1. Constraints to Social Resilience

• Intensified collective trauma and memories of the past: In the context of historical pandemics like Spanish flu and their impacts on Alaska communities, our research participants reflected on how past experiences shaped their feelings and responses to COVID-19. The pandemic enhanced never-fading memories of the Indigenous Peoples about the past pandemics and viruses brought to their communities from the outside, and it brought back collective trauma connected to grief and loss, especially for those whose families lost loved ones in the past:

“I think a big factor up here in our region was… the memory of great number of deaths happening because of sickness.”

(Nome, 64+).

“Because in 1918 there was influenza, Spanish flu, and that’s what we really talked about. In some of our communities 90% of people died from the Spanish flu or influenza…So it brought up that feeling of this virus or something that we couldn’t see killing our people. We took it really seriously to keep our people safe, and especially our Elders.”

(Nome, 20s).

“Spanish Flu… That almost wiped out my entire family. There was one lady left in our family.”

(Anchorage, 20s).

• Increased inequality in power relationships at home: The interviews revealed underlying issues of inequality and insufficient respect in family relationships, mainly as a result of Western colonization, where some women’s voices and choices, particularly in health decisions and domestic environments, have been constrained. One of our research participants with the knowledge of domestic violence prevention, shared her concerns on various aspects of women’s life at home in the context of power dynamics in the relationship:

“I see marriages and relationships where there’s an inequity of power, or the male in the relationship takes more power and doesn’t allow as much power to the female. If the male is saying, “We don’t need to be vaccinated,” then that’s not really a choice that is made by the female…”

(Nome, 64+).

• “Definitely an increase in domestic violence”: The legacy of Western colonization, forced cultural assimilation, and trauma from the residential school system underpins ongoing negative effects on the community’s health in general and gender relations, which were exacerbated during the pandemic. Like in many Western societies, lockdowns and extended periods of home confinement increased the vulnerability of women to domestic violence and psychological abuse during the pandemic. Women in unsafe domestic situations faced increased risks within their own home—potentially trapped with their abusers and having limited availability to seek help hindered by the pandemic’s restrictions:

“I feel like rape has gone up. Domestic violence definitely went through the roof. Emotional violence… It’s not even a silent killer… I feel as there should be more attentiveness to emotional violence… We do a very good job of hiding and masking…”

(Anchorage/Nome, 30s).

• Decreased community engagement and participation in sociocultural practices: In most Indigenous communities in Alaska, women are highly involved and often take a lead in cultural preservation. The restrictions on gatherings affected cultural practices and traditional ways of life. It was particularly disruptive because these activities are an essential part of maintaining social harmony and collective community health. They play an important role in connecting community members and fostering a sense of belonging and identity, as well as building invisible bridges that connect them to their past and the natural world. Ceremonial gatherings such as potlatches are important events where resources are shared, and social bonds are reinforced. During the pandemic, for many Elders and those without Internet access it was especially difficult to stay connected with their communities. While some adaptations were made, such as moving gatherings outdoors or conducting ceremonies in smaller groups in virtual spaces, the loss of these communal moments was deeply felt as the interviews reflected the importance of these activities, particularly for women seeking social support networks:

“I know that it impacted a lot of people in a lot of communities because we’re surrounded by community events. That’s something we thrive on, is being a community. It was hard…”

(Anchorage/Nome, 30s).

“During Christmas holiday for one whole week we play Native games in the village and the whole community gathers in the gym… And that had to be put off for a couple of years”

(The Nome area, 40s).

• Altered in-person food harvesting and sharing traditions: In many communities in Alaska, collective food harvesting reinforces social connections within the community and social bonds. It is a means of showing care, respect, and solidarity among members, ensuring that everyone is supported and included:

“It impacted the way that we were going about our daily lives… we didn’t have our same places we would go in the way of connecting with the land and being out on the land in the same way. We still did our fishing. We still did our berry picking. We just didn’t do it as a larger group and that was hard.”

(Anchorage, 30s).

Food-sharing is often central to Indigenous cultural ceremonies. It is a way to honor ancestors, celebrate life events, and maintain cultural continuity through generations. It fosters a system of mutual aid that is crucial for communal resilience and survival. It is also one of the pillars of the community support system, as it teaches the values of generosity and cooperation. To a certain degree, both food-sharing and meal-sharing traditions were disrupted:

“I know it led to a lot more depression… going out and fishing or getting a whale and not being able to share that with your community because you’re afraid that somebody in the community would be sick and it would accidentally get passed through the food.”

(Anchorage/Nome, 30s).

“… it’s not the same as being able to make somebody a plate of food and see them enjoy it… and you just can’t do that in the same way over a computer. You can drop something off at their house, so we did things like that where we’d do a little drop-off and then try to engage that way, but it’s still not exactly the same and it felt like a poor substitute for being together…”

(Anchorage, 30s).

• Challenges in fulfilling the role of community caretakers: In many Indigenous communities in Alaska, women serve as the community caretakers contributing to the community’s well-being by providing emotional support, maintaining cultural practices, and caring for physical health. This role of women became even more critical during the time of the pandemic, but it was also more challenging to implement it:

“I feel like that’s been a problem for so many women in this area… just figuring out how to have these social connections, the love for one another, and how to demonstrate that.”

(Anchorage, 40s).

The pandemic affected the tradition of caring for one another in many Indigenous communities of Alaska, which is deeply rooted in their cultural values, practices, and social structures. This practice of “communal responsibility” encompasses various aspects of daily life and is integral to the survival and well-being of the community. Inability to be available for the community was particularly challenging for those women living in urban areas, elevating so-called “caregiver stress”:

“We knew that people were getting ill… and we weren’t able to be there to physically support them, to provide for them. It impacted the way that we were going about our daily lives… It was not just a loss of the people that have passed on due to the virus, but also just a loss of those times together.”

(Anchorage, 40s).

• Increased racism and gender-based discrimination: The pandemic exacerbated previously existed social and economic inequities, which are often linked to gender-based discrimination and systemic racism, with many Indigenous women facing stigmatization due to their ethnicity or/and socio-economic status:

“about racism… All of that kind of seems to get exacerbated when people are stressed out.”

(Anchorage, 30s).

“Nome is a very complicated community. There’s still racism here… I experience it practically every week, either personally or professionally… Being an Alaskan Native woman, I always have to prove myself. People see me, and they make an assumption about who I am, what I’ve done, what I have, where I work.”

(Nome, 64+).

“A lot of the disparities that we face because of COVID-19 can be traced back to racism in America. Then on top of that, the people that have been experiencing these disparities, people that have been marginalized because of systemic racism, because we’ve been through generations now of colonization…”

(Nome, 20s).

“Native People face really high disparities in all kinds of different areas. I know it’s not only women who are carrying those burdens, but I do think it is very often women who carry a lot of it.”

(Anchorage, 30s).

• Elevated rates of being unhoused: In general, Indigenous women living in urban areas are particularly at risk of homelessness. They often face systemic barriers such as racism and gender discrimination, inadequate support services, and the lasting impacts of historical trauma and colonialism. With economic and employment insecurity, the pandemic also brought the brunt of additional challenges, including the threat of eviction due to reduced income, limited access to affordable housing, inefficient social services, and lack of strong support networks:

“My cousin… She lost her job during the pandemic, and she has faced eviction three times since then here in Anchorage… My cousin and her children are… homeless.”

(Anchorage, 50s).

“We ended up bouncing around between Airbnb’s, hotels, motels, temp rentals, friends of family that let us stay on their couch, sleeping in our car, shelters… I was noticing is that there was a boom in homelessness around that time when the eviction moratorium ended.”

(Anchorage, 40s).

Women experience homelessness in a particularly acute way, often facing greater safety concerns, and the challenge of caring for children:

“Some of the single moms I know are living in their cars. how can you be safe living in your car? … Because it’s not safe. This is Alaska where we have some of the highest rates of murdered and missing women.”

(Anchorage, 40s).

For three research participants, houselessness did not cease with the end of the pandemic, prompting some women to start seeking housing and overall better living conditions and support outside of Anchorage:

“It’s not the place it used to be… I want quietness and calmness and not hearing gunshots and the traffic…, I guess I’m getting old, and I don’t want to deal with the nonsense anymore.”

(Anchorage, 40s).

3.2.2. Strengths for Resilience in Social Domain

• Stewardship position of women: Being predominantly in the Western gender role framework, and often without strong support from their male counterparts, women yet became true stewards of the social sustainability and resilience of their families and their communities:

“In Nome, I’ve seen it <community harmony and balance–authors> improve quite a bit. There are so many women working so hard to make sure that our people are taken care of.”

(Anchorage, 30s).

“I feel like a lot of times women are the ones who are problem-solving for all the people that they know…”

(Anchorage, 30s).

Many Indigenous women stepped into leadership roles, organized community responses to the pandemic, and advocated for support to others, including most vulnerable groups in the community:

“The grocery stores were bare…. the shelves were very empty, similar to big hub communities… One of the things that I did, because people that are on food assistance, their money comes in on the first of every month, I was campaigning to tell people that had leisure money to not go shopping from the 1^st to the 3^rd, just so that people that were on Food Stamps or on WIC could go food shopping when the shelves were stocked…We started doing small acts of kindness. Somebody from the big community would send us a big box of goodies and we’d distribute out little note cards that had positive notes on there, little snacks, berry buckets. Throughout COVID we were just handing those out to anybody that needed something in a safe way. So usually, we’d drop them off at their door…”

(Nome, 20s).

Many Alaska communities experienced difficulties in accessing public assistance, particularly from the state government. As Indigenous women in Alaska are, on average, more educated than men, they often helped all family and community members to prepare all the paperwork and apply for public programs. As our research participant shared,

“During the pandemic, not a lot of people knew how to fill out the applications. I filled out all the applications for my family. It probably went back to other moms, probably filled out for their family members… I was the main person to fill out everything… They weren’t sure what to put down, they weren’t sure how to budget something… I’m the main person to do all the paperwork for anything when it comes to my family.”

(Nome, 30s).

Women’s approach to stewardship over a community that is based on holism, interconnectedness, reciprocity, and mutual support was fundamental to keep the community resilient:

“I know it’s really hard, but just trying to think about everyone in the communities, their holistic health… it’s just a different worldview.”

(Anchorage, 30s).

“I think that if we can raise community awareness to get people to not only know about this but to care about this, so that we can improve how we are to each other, how we are to the environment, to create this global consciousness of care and love and compassion… It’s not going to happen overnight, but I feel like as long as we’re keeping that in mind, we’re going in the right direction.”

(Nome, 20s).

• Adaptability to new technologies (community virtual gatherings, etc.): Traditional gatherings, sharing meetings, talking circles, ceremonies, although mostly taking place in a virtual environment, became a powerful tool of maintaining culture and, in this way, addressing specific Indigenous women’s needs:

“I should mention how my life changed, everything went virtual, and I got really good at holding virtual space. Because that’s naturally what I do, I’ll hold space in a circle, but we had to adapt it to holding it on a computer, but it was still good, and it was still engaging, and people got to share and grow relationships that way.”

(Nome, 20s).

While women found alternative ways to connect, such as virtual beading circles, still, these adjustments were not without challenges, especially for those experiencing greater rates of economic and geographic inequality and, as a result, limited access to the Internet:

“People that didn’t have a good employer, they had to pay for their own internet, and it was a lot… now it’s a lot better, but for about the first year of the pandemic, it was very expensive. So, the surrounding villages, if you went to Savoonga, or Diomede especially, it was not possible for them to do a virtual space like that. They were still teleconferencing in on their phone.”

(Nome, 20s).

• Ability to keep solidarity and provide mutual support: The interviews indicated that women play a crucial role in providing support to their families and maintaining social connectedness in their communities:

“The first start of the pandemic, I think we handled it pretty well in our community. Even though it spread, we all helped each other overcome it. And the ladies, we all supported each other. Not too much support from the men, but we did it.”

(The Nome region, 40s).

“Definitely supporting, offering, reaching out to people, creating teams or creating groups to sit and just have coffee if they want to vent about something. Definitely utilizing our phones a lot, in terms of communication and being together and knowing we’re going through a pandemic again together or just knowing that we went through something together.”

(Nome, 30s).

• Ability to form women’s support groups and practice healing traditions: The interview narratives demonstrate that women were able to heal emotional wounds by supporting each other, by exercising innovative approaches to maintaining emotional and mental health. Some women acknowledged a therapeutic effect of these women gatherings:

“…there were online women wellness groups, art groups, conversation, Zoom meetings where you were able to interact with familiar faces and chit chat. That was a nice break from the reality of the pandemic.”

(Anchorage, 40s).

“…I would think more gatherings just to talk to each other and let everything out and see what everybody else’s experiences and what they went through when they had COVID or what we should watch out for or what helps, like stinkweed juice or something.”

(The Nome region, 40s).

During the pandemic, female Elders preserved spiritual guidance. They played a significant role through sharing wisdom and cultural knowledge and providing comfort, support, and guidance. The ability of many Elders to quickly adapt to new communication technologies and continue virtually serving their communities, and especially women, was of paramount importance. Embedded in Indigenous traditions, mechanisms allowing the improvement of emotional, mental, and spiritual health played a significant part in times of crisis:

“We had Elders that came in every day when we started, we would start off in prayer. So, we’d have an Elder pray, and they would light a seal oil lamp, and it was all virtual. It was kind of cool that we could still practice that kind of ceremonial and prayer and remembrance in a virtual space.”

(Nome, 20s).

• Ability to preserve and re-engage with traditional cultural activities: Women have sought creative ways to (re)engage with and explore new traditional cultural activities through virtual gatherings such as beading, sewing, carving workshops, and Zoom women’s talking circle meetings. These sessions offered a safe space for sharing techniques, learning, and providing emotional support during isolating times:

“… technology, one of the things that has been helpful… to do some of these activities that we did before the pandemic in a different way. I have beading circles where we would get together on Zoom and just bead and chat and continue our practice there. That’s been a good one. And a different way of sharing…”

(Anchorage, 40s).

“We do a lot of hand sewing up here, whether it’s sewing baby booties or full-size mukluks… There was this lady who had pre-assembled them and precut everything for one size. Then she would hold a virtual circle and facilitate sewing it online. So, there were people all across the state, mostly Alaska Native… there are a lot of women… they did the sewing circle, and it was all virtual.”

(Nome, 20s).

• Strengthened sense of community and belonging: Indigenous communities in Alaska with extended kinship networks ensure that all members are cared for by a wide circle of relatives and the community, not only immediate family members. These networks were particularly crucial for our female participants, who, in return, contributed to strengthening these social structures as well as a sense of community and belonging:

“I feel like that sense of community really helps with anything, when it comes to being a mom, working and raising our kids, and worrying about our kids and worrying about our Elders, because I feel like that has always been our job.”

(Nome, 30s).

3.3. Economic Domain

3.3.1. Constraints to Economic Resilience During the Pandemic

• Persistent gender division of labor and low-paid female occupations/positions: In addition to the continuous legacy of colonialism and cultural assimilation that is associated with the segregation of labor sectors of the economy into ‘female’ and ‘male’ domains, the pandemic particularly exacerbated the working conditions and system of compensation in female-dominated sectors like healthcare. For instance, most frontline workers in the communities were women, and they were the ones who took disproportionate risks:

“I think… about health aids. The health aids are the medical personnel in the village communities, and they’re all women. I can’t imagine the feeling of responsibility that they had when it was during that first year <of the pandemic–authors>. They probably all got a lot of gray hair that year, because it’s so much responsibility.” (Nome, 64+.) “There were even health aides getting COVID. And if it came to a real emergency, they would still have to see the patient and risk getting COVID themselves. So, the health aides played a big role in keeping the community safe.”

(The Nome area, 40s).

Our research participants highlighted the persistent issue of gender division in labor in urban areas, particularly in Anchorage. Consequently, six of them find themselves in more vulnerable positions, often working in women-dominated sectors that provide limited financial opportunities in the labor market:

“The hardest hit parts of the economy, by my estimation, are parts that … are often seen as women’s work. So that’s teachers, teachers’ aides, daycare providers, home healthcare providers, caregiving positions… They’re low wage jobs, when you think about the amount of time that these people put in, and is it commensurate with the amount that they’re getting paid? No, it is not. Why can’t we subsidize women’s jobs? If you have pay equity, then women can afford housing.”

(Anchorage, 40s).

• Altered working conditions, stalled careers, and Zoom fatigue: While three participants emphasized the convenience of working from home, so they can be closely involved with their family members and have better control over homeschooling with their children, nine participants mentioned struggling with social isolation and distraction while working from home, highlighting the need for social interaction and the difficulty in maintaining productivity outside of a pre-pandemic socially oriented office environment. This transition to remote work was a significant adjustment, with our participant recounting the following:

“I worked at home for almost a year… My productivity, my work morale, my enthusiasm to work… Gone! Remote work from home did not work. I am a social butterfly.”

(Anchorage, 50s).

Pre-existing inequalities in socio-economic and living conditions exacerbated during the pandemic, particularly the issues in overcrowded houses, affected mainly women who were enrolled in the wage economy or/and tertiary education:

“Not enough office space to work with, off the table. Their kids bothered them. No room to work or study. Sometimes they have to go to the library or the hospital to study or work.”

(Nome, 64+).

This lockdown was particularly stressful for women living in urban areas with children, who, in addition to managing their professional responsibilities, often shouldered a greater burden of childcare due to school and kindergarten closures, the absence of relatives they could rely on, and childcare/daycare services:

“During this period, I have to take care of my children. Even when I’m trying to work from home, I’m always distracted by my children.”

(Nome, 20s).

“Daycare centers in Anchorage got shut down… I can’t imagine trying to have to work and find viable trustworthy daycare providers during the pandemic.”

(Anchorage, 50s).

Six women found their careers stalled, and two faced shattered dreams of good education—all due to a lack of available and affordable childcare during and after the pandemic:

“… the schools closed; all the daycares closed. I couldn’t work. I wasn’t able to finish my semester. I lost my student job because the campus is closed, so you can’t work. I lost income. I had to drop from being a full-time student to being a part-time student because I’m still homeschooling <my> kids… Now, I’m a single mom also…”

(Anchorage, 40s).

Zoom fatigue became a significant side effect of remote work and online learning during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in both mental and physical exhaustion:

“It was within the lockdown where I had opportunities with Zoom like going to… conferences… and even taking classes. It was a good thing to take up the time and have something to do and look forward to. But on the other hand, from doing so many Zoom meetings, I got Zoom exhaustion, because I’m also on boards… having back-to-back different Zoom meetings…”

(Anchorage, 40s).

• Increased job losses, job instability, and insecurity: Job losses and reduced income were significant stressors, particularly for single mothers living outside of their communities and in low-wage jobs. The interviews reveal instances of women facing eviction and struggling to access necessities, underlining the gendered impact of economic downturns. The economic impact of the pandemic disproportionately affected Indigenous women living in urban areas, particularly those in precarious employment, those who lost their jobs due to the pandemic, and single mothers. While eleven participants mentioned receiving support from community, Tribal organizations, Native Corporations, and from the government, the economic uncertainty was a significant challenge. Four participants mentioned that the struggle to meet basic needs and avoid eviction was a significant stressor for many women in their community. Economic challenges were highlighted, with stories of job loss, difficulty finding new work, and the strain of navigating unemployment benefits. This was especially pronounced for those in sectors hit hard by the pandemic (like tourism, arts and crafts, leisure services, restaurant businesses, etc.) or where remote work was not an option:

“I haven’t been able to work consistently for the past couple years and when I do work, I overwork because I don’t want to ever have that space in between where I could be homeless again”

(Anchorage, 30s).

• Another constraint to resilience is the diminished financial capacity related to lack of overlapping resources from state and Indigenous institutions to support their people, which especially affects Indigenous women living in urban areas. During the pandemic, it was clear that these capacities were insufficient to protect Indigenous urbanites in a critical situation and prevent many female households from falling below poverty line:

“Before then <the pandemic-authors>, it was like, “Oh no, you’re going to be homeless? No, we’re not going to allow that to happen. We’re going to try to do as much as we can to prevent that from happening”; now it’s, “Oh, I’m sorry you’re having a hard time.” … I dedicated my life to my communities, and not receiving the help that we needed, or we were promised for housing, that was baffling.”

(Anchorage, 30s).

Without a financial support system, some Indigenous urbanites also faced challenges in accessing essential services, including healthcare and public assistance, due to closures and the shift to remote operations. The closure of public assistance offices was particularly dire for those women without reliable Internet access and advanced technologies’ availability that were factors limiting access to information and support programs:

“Applying for TANF, applying for Medicaid, applying for food stamps, all became virtual… I’m going to say these are women who really don’t have access to a handheld cell phone where they could just look up or scan and email their documents.”

(Anchorage, 50s).

• Geographical complications and eligibility gaps: Five research participants who lived away from their ancestral lands experienced severe financial hardship due to job losses or reduced work hours:

“Tribes were also offering COVID rent relief, but the issue you run into with tribal rent relief is some tribes required that you had to live within the tribal service area. A good example would be the Nome Eskimo community, which is a tribe here in Alaska. If you’re a member of the Nome Eskimo Community, they want you to live within the Nome area. Well, not all tribal members of the Nome Eskimo Community live in Nome… maybe you grew up there, but you moved away because there’s no housing. There’s no employment. There’s no childcare. So then how do you support yourself financially? I know some tribes, if you didn’t live within the tribal service area, you didn’t get rent relief. And then a lot of these places, everything was closed, like the welfare office, the food stamp office, the housing office. If all these offices are closed and you don’t have a computer or you don’t have internet, how do you apply for them?”

(Anchorage, 40s).

• Disrupted subsistence activities and increased food insecurity: The pandemic presented challenges to subsistence activities, adding to traditional food insecurity problems. In addition, Indigenous women in remote communities, particularly young mothers, also faced additional challenges, such as a milk formula deficit. Restrictions on travel and gathering affected subsistence activities, crucial for many communities’ food supply—both in remote villages and urban communities:

“We had a huge impact on our fishing. We cut fish and dry them for the winter, or we just put away fish. There’s not much time in the summer, it goes by so quickly. And it took a lot of the schedule out of our fishing time, being in quarantine and having to stay in most of the time to avoid possibly getting COVID. It really affected our subsistence.”

(The Nome area, 40s).

Indigenous urbanites’ involvement in the subsistence economy was directly affected by the pandemic safety measures. As a result of lockdowns and disruptions in fishing, hunting, and harvesting season, most Indigenous urbanites were cut off from access to Indigenous food. Overall, it imposed a substantial emotional and financial toll on female urbanites, particularly single mothers or women in precarious work positions and economic situations. For both rural and urban communities, the traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of gathering food together, as well as exchange and sharing, were also disrupted.

3.3.2. Strengths for Economic Resilience

• Ability to exercise gender equality traditions in the subsistence economy (mainly in rural areas): In Alaska Indigenous communities, all genders play a pivotal role in the subsistence economy, a vital aspect of their communities’ cultural and economic sustainability.

Both women and men participate in land- and water-based traditional subsistence activities, and often women not only gather and preserve plant materials, such as berries and medicinal herbs, but also participate in fishing and hunting. It is the sphere of the economy where all genders’ contributions are valued and appreciated:

“In terms of food, I’ve been very fortunate that a lot of the men in our family were hunters and gatherers, so we did keep that up. We did go to camp all the time, going moose hunting, seal hunting. That’s something that the whole family takes part in, so we did keep doing that, going fishing, going berry picking. So, in that aspect, that’s equally shared across our family, and nothing has really changed.”

(Nome, 20s).

During the pandemic, the subsistence economy became increasingly important to many Indigenous communities to mitigate food supply shortages and interruptions and make communities more resilient to times of emergency:

“Up here (the Nome region–authors) majority of our people that have lived here for a while do a lot of harvesting and gathering… I could say this confidently, if the grocery stores were gone, we would still have food in our home. If we have fuel, that’s the thing.”

(Nome, 20s).

While these traditional activities were relatively available for rural communities, Indigenous women in urban areas were largely deprived of them, because of travel restrictions and strict quarantine regimes in many villages.

• Women’s engagement in the wage and mixed economy: For Indigenous women, participation in the wage economy provided greater financial stability, enhancing the overall economic well-being of their families and communities:

“Because I had a full-time job, I had savings, my work wasn’t interrupted, I was really grateful for that. I was able to keep working, keep getting a paycheck…”

(Nome, 20s).

Women who had better access to natural resources and participated in both the mixed economy (comprising subsistence and wage activities) demonstrated a particularly high degree of resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. These women benefited from financial stability through wage employment while also maintaining food security and access to traditional foods through subsistence practices. This dual engagement allowed them to leverage economic resources and traditional knowledge, thereby enhancing their capacity to better withstand the challenges posed by the pandemic.

• Capacity to strengthen professional growth (mostly urban): Many women, particularly urban residents with better access to the Internet, demonstrated remarkable resilience as they were open to exploring various ways to grow professionally. Free online courses and conferences were particularly popular. Attending conferences was reported as highly beneficial as it allowed women to gain new insights, stay updated, improve networking, and foster relationships that can support personal development and future career advancement:

“One of the things that was good that did come out of the pandemic was… more access to different conferences that I wish I would’ve gone to in person before the pandemic and wasn’t able to. I was able to attend these conferences online and take language classes for free or a limited low amount of payment for the classes. And then got me in contact with other linguistics or companies that provided online support for language publications… And I really enjoyed the conferences that I had attended. And one of them was an international Indigenous conference that was in 2021, and it was all virtual and it had different Indigenous small businesses and small women businesses and how they’re boosting their economy.”

(Anchorage, 40s).

• Ability to start women-led community-oriented businesses (mainly in urban areas): During the course of the pandemic, there were possibilities to use simplified procedures for registering businesses, and some Indigenous women in urban settings used this opportunity. Many of these female-led businesses are based on the values of mutual support and solidarity, and care for Elders and all Indigenous community members allowed easing the burden of navigating through the pandemic:

“I had a catering service that I did door-to-door… I didn’t want payment, I wanted people to cause a positive ripple effect with each other, and that’s what I did with my catering… My first order was a lady who had never spent a birthday without her family, and it was her first birthday completely alone. So, I went upstairs, dropped off the cookies, and I said, “You can order as much as you want, you can order whatever you want; just pay what you can afford… We’re very good friends now… So, that’s part of how I tried to continue to help my community.”

(Anchorage/Nome, 30s).

• Shifts in workplace values: As our participant shared, she experienced a pandemic-influenced personal reevaluation of workplace relationships, aligning with an Indigenous-informed ethic of mutual support and reciprocity—an approach that is often absent in the traditional Western leadership model, which is rooted in more hierarchical and transactional norms:

“Since I am looking for jobs and because I’ve had some kind of traumatic work experience this year, I’m very much seeking an employer who respects me… I want to learn how they’ll support me as an employee rather than only focusing on what I can do for them. It’s about reciprocity really, and not just in terms of employment, but in all aspects of life.”

(Anchorage, 30s).

4. Discussion

In alignment with the research goal and objectives, our qualitative research identified key impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Indigenous women in Alaska as well as the gendered implications in the personal, sociocultural, and economic domains.

The uniqueness of the research findings lies in the application of a holistic conceptual framework to explore Indigenous women’s experiences using voice-centered and “two-eyed seeing” methodologies, along with the integration of direct participant quotations that offer perspectives grounded in lived reality from both rural and urban contexts. This Indigenized methodology complements, and at times challenges, more formal Western analytical approaches that often risk diminishing the value of participants’ narratives. By centering the voices of Indigenous communities and creating space for female participants to be meaningfully heard, this study enables their stories to speak directly to readers, conveying their experiences with authenticity, nuance, and depth.

The interviews allowed us to better understand both the strengths demonstrated by Indigenous women in response to the pandemic and the constraints they faced. Although there is a growing body of literature documenting impacts of the pandemic on Indigenous communities in the Arctic [14,61,62,63,64,65,66] to our knowledge, this is the first study that holistically examined differences between Indigenous women’s rural and urban experiences in Alaska across key domains of gendered impacts and responses.

Our findings demonstrate that although Indigenous women across demographic groups shared similar strengths and constraints to resilience, the most noticeable differences were associated with the place of residence. In particular, women living in such distinctly urban settings as Anchorage had some dissimilar experiences compared to their more rural counterparts.

In many aspects, our findings are consistent with previous studies on the multifaceted impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Indigenous women in the personal domain across the globe negatively affecting their mental and emotional health [14,61,62] exacerbated by limited support services designed and implemented by and for Indigenous Peoples [63,64]. Thirteen research participants reported multiple constraints related to limited communication, isolation, and loss of relationships, significantly impacting their mental, emotional, and physical health. The pandemic elevated stress levels and a stronger sense of responsibility and guilt, particularly due to imbalanced gender roles at home and caregiving stress, which were more prevalent in urban areas. In rural areas, among great factors contributing to women’s safety issues were household insecurities, including overcrowded housing, digital inequality, and household water insecurity and poor sanitation infrastructure [18,65].

Another important finding in our study was that despite these aforementioned constraints, Indigenous women have outstanding potential for adaptability and resilience in times of crises, which is consistent with previous research [27,66,67]. Twelve participants demonstrated high ability to adapt to new work and study conditions, with the wide use of new technologies facilitating personal online communication and activities on social media. Women found opportunities to stay engaged in emotional and spiritual healing practices, develop new hobbies, and find innovative ways to grow personally, showcasing a high level of their personal resilience.

Our findings also highlight the role of reflecting on the meaning of life and the importance of Indigenous culture, values, and traditions of mutual support during crises like the pandemic. These reflections are essential for both personal and community resilience, aligning with Viktor Frankl’s concept of meaning [68], which underscores the significance of a sense of purpose during times of crisis and helps counter the existential vacuum often associated with the loss of traditional values and beliefs. The significance of such reflections on current and past tragedies has been discussed in some Indigenous communities in the US [69], but it has not been thoroughly examined or addressed in research studies yet.

Regarding our insights into dissimilarities in rural–urban experiences in the personal domain, we identified that Indigenous urbanites found themselves in the position for personal growth due to new training and professional opportunities; five of them felt empowered as they considered themselves becoming a source of support for their rural relatives, helping them to overcome deficits in medical supply, etc. Living in highly dense urban areas, they were able to (re)connect to nature by finding solitary spaces in the city landscape to support their mental health as they found these experiences to be deeply healing [27,70]. At the same time, all rural women gained strength by reinforcing their efforts for community resilience and, in return, gaining community support and a sense of belonging that enhanced their individual well-being and reduced feelings of isolation and loneliness.

Our findings are also consistent with previous studies conducted on the sociocultural domain [19,32,71,72]. For Indigenous communities, both rural and urban, the lockdown was a challenging experience since in-person communication in Alaska Indigenous cultures plays a crucial role in reinforcing social bonds and strengthening the social fabric of the community. In social and cultural activities like community meetings, gatherings, festivals, and ceremonies, women play an exceptional and often leading role as community leaders and caretakers [42], educators, cultural bearers, and knowledge holders, preserving and transmitting traditions to future generations. The Indigenous women we interviewed also struggled with limited meaningful community engagement and reduced participation in sociocultural practices. This was especially difficult because these activities are closely tied to their identity and well-being. The COVID-19 pandemic also intensified collective trauma and historical memories of the previous pandemics [73,74,75], particularly affecting women as they tend to serve the role of their family and entire community health caretakers.

Our findings also show similar evidence with previous research on the significant role of Western colonial legacy and the boarding school system. Patriarchal gender role attitudes significantly disrupted Indigenous values with the introduction of Western gender norms, which often marginalized traditional Indigenous female roles within the household [35,36,37,47,76]. Many Indigenous women experienced the negative effects of this system, including domestic violence, and widened inequality in power dynamics at home, which increased during the pandemic.

Amidst all the aforementioned difficulties, the current research results confirmed other studies that Indigenous women can thrive even in crises like the COVID-19 pandemic [27,66]. A common theme among all women whom we spoke to is the importance of social and cultural practices. Despite remoteness and limited resources, most women adapted to new technologies like Zoom and utilized them for various virtual gatherings, including women’s bidding, sewing, and talking circles, which allowed them to maintain their roles as stewards of cultural practices even throughout the pandemic lockdowns and social distancing. With the help of technologies, they also were able to practice self-healing traditions. Many Indigenous women who have attained higher levels of education were in an empowered position to deal with bureaucratic procedures, and they became an invaluable resource for their families, especially male relatives, who, on average, have less formal Western-type education and experienced difficulties with finding available support programs and filing the forms. These narratives highlight the importance of support systems, such as talking circles and social media, that were crucial for women to maintain social connections and support each other.

Our findings on the significant dissimilarities between rural and urban experiences in the social domain are consistent with previous studies. Indigenous women living in urban areas during the pandemic reported the loss of substantial social and economic support from their ancestral communities, while having only limited access to social safety net programs that aimed to provide critical support during times of financial hardship and prevent elevated rates of homelessness. The effectiveness of homeless support with services that would address the specific needs of Indigenous women was relatively low. In Alaska, the existing system of women’s safe homes with a prevailing religious agenda caused additional psychological trauma and further deepened some Indigenous women’s complex vulnerabilities. Women living in urban settings also reported increased discrimination, racism, intolerance, and selective justice [3,77,78], as well as sexual abuse and violence [36,38,71].

While all our Indigenous interviewees had opportunities to practice self-healing traditions and (re-)engage with traditional cultural activities, women in rural Indigenous communities had less difficulties maintaining cultural connections and passing on traditional knowledge. They were able to empower themselves through strengthening their sense of community and contributing to restoring mutual support. This system of mutual support during the pandemic was one of the pillars of the community resilience and supportive networks within these communities [72].

In the economic domain, the pandemic limited financial capacities, altered working and studying conditions for many Alaska Indigenous women, and exacerbated childcare crisis [79]. Job losses and financial insecurity became significant issues as they were aggravated by most women’s initial low financial capital with insufficient assets or savings as a result of pre-pandemic gender inequity of labor relegating women to low-paid positions [41,42]. The welfare model prevalent in Alaska and other Arctic regions causes additional challenges for women, particularly in urban settings: a large public sector is a significant employer of women, for example, in nursing, teaching, social work, childcare, and care for older people. On one hand, employment in these sectors is characterized by stability, even in times of crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, and offers various options for flexible work (e.g., part-time). On the other hand, these positions, even though they may require higher levels of education and experience, are generally not as well-paid as in male-dominated extractive or business sectors [41]. As a result, Indigenous female urbanites, especially women who recently migrated from rural areas, are dealing with the lack of affordable housing and childcare services while having limited earnings (given their lower wages in female-dominated sectors of the economy), thus not making enough savings to sustain themselves in times of crisis.

For many Indigenous women, participation in a mixed economy holds multifaceted importance. Our findings confirm the disruptions to subsistence activities that are prevalent in many Indigenous communities, as highlighted by previous studies [21]. At the same time, prior studies have demonstrated that in certain areas, subsistence remained a crucial pillar of food security during times of food chain disruptions [25,80], aligning with our own findings.

The study highlighted significant rural–urban dissimilarities in the economic domain [26]. As evidenced by other studies [23], similarly to other parts of the Arctic, many Indigenous women in urban settings were significantly affected by pandemic-related job losses and the limited availability of support institutions and networks. During the lockdowns and travel bans, Indigenous urbanites were particularly impacted, as their economic security was, to some extent, reliant on participation in subsistence activities and the support of family and kin networks. In addition, Indigenous urbanites are sometimes perceived as being outside the ancestral community in a sociocultural sense, so while they were eligible for financial support from the state or federal government, most were deprived of tribal cash transfers and lacked the robust community support systems sufficient in their ancestral communities.

At the same time, among aspects not emphasized in previous studies is the entrepreneurial skills of Indigenous urbanites, who have seized opportunities to successfully run female-led, community-oriented small businesses. This highlights their entrepreneurial spirit and strong commitment to ‘giving back’ [42], thereby contributing to community resilience.

Indigenous women in rural areas, despite significant economic challenges during the pandemic, showed resilience in face of economic insecurity [81,82,83,84]. In many Indigenous communities, women are involved in mixed economies, participating both in subsistence and non-subsistence economic activities to a greater extent, and thus earning larger and/or more stable wages [41]. Importantly, within the subsistence economy, many practices are based on Indigenous gender roles traditions that contribute to greater community and individual resilience.

Limitations and Future Research

Our study has several limitations that also suggest future research directions. Methodologically, this research was focusing on women and did not incorporate other genders and their perspectives. The research team adhered to the primary principles of conducting research in Arctic Indigenous communities. Still, a more profound Indigenization of the research agenda and research methodology is needed to incorporate Indigenous perspectives on gender constructs and gender roles in Alaska communities.

The lack of comprehensive statistical sex-disaggregated community-based data limited the scope of analysis to qualitative analysis. Since this study’s geographic area was limited, this research is not necessarily representative or generalizable to all Indigenous Peoples of Alaska, and more nuanced studies are essential to implement. Additionally, given volume constraints, this article does not include two critical domains—political and civic. Further gender-specific research on the COVID-19 pandemic and other crises is needed, and a strength-based approach should be employed to better understand and utilize individual and community resilience. Future research will close some of these gaps.

5. Conclusions: Lessons of Resilience Through a Gender Lens

This study revealed the importance of understanding the gendered aspects of strengths and constraints regarding Indigenous women’s individual and community resilience in Alaska’s urban and rural Indigenous communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also re-emphasized the relevance of the strength-based approach to examining impacts and responses to a major crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, especially among Indigenous communities.

Similarly to other parts of the world, Alaska Indigenous women were profoundly impacted by the pandemic. The interview narratives offered insights into women’s lived experiences, shedding light on echoes of the history of colonization and traumas in the past and the role of Indigenous traditions and community support in sustaining women’s individual and community resilience.

Historically, Arctic gender studies have predominantly relied on deficit-based models, concentrating on the challenges and vulnerabilities experienced by Arctic communities, particularly in remote regions. This study implemented a more comprehensive approach, integrating both deficit-based and strength-based models, offering a more holistic understanding of the subject, aligning with Indigenous concepts of a “wholistic” worldview [46] (p. 74).

This approach emphasizes the importance of considering multiple perspectives and ensuring that no significant aspect is overlooked. As a result, the analysis captured the multifaceted impacts of the pandemic on Indigenous women’s lives in rural and urban communities as they faced significant gender-specific constraints in personal, sociocultural, and economic domains. At the same time, the strength-based approach allowed us to identify Indigenous women’s strengths associated with adaptability, resourcefulness, cultural stewardship, and their ability to elicit community solidarity (mainly in rural areas) that, in turn, contributed to greater personal and community resilience.

By incorporating elements of Indigenous methodology into this integrated framework, a deeper understanding of gender issues was achieved. Key principles proved crucial for gender research, including prioritizing practically oriented research that addresses community needs, implementing “humanized” research procedures, emphasizing personal storytelling and a voice-centered approach, employing the “two-eyed seeing” method, and ensuring research accuracy through participant feedback on the research team’s interpretations, among others.

One of the key sources of Indigenous women’s strengths was their ability to continue practicing cultural traditions and values, which supported their mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical health during the COVID-19 pandemic. The interviews revealed a collective yearning for connection/connectedness, continuation of traditional cultural practices including arts and crafts, virtual collective prayers, access to nature and traditional subsistence activities, and the innovative ways women sought to preserve these elements in unprecedented social and physical isolation.

This study found significant disparities in the experiences of Indigenous women residing in rural versus urban areas. Indigenous women in urban settings were frequently subjected to multifaceted inequalities and vulnerabilities due to lower levels of financial capital, limited tribal social and economic support, and persistent gender discrimination and racism. However, they demonstrated a remarkable capacity for personal and professional growth, resourcefulness, and the ability to support relatives in rural Alaska. They also showed a strong inclination to initiate women-led, community-oriented, or Indigenous culture-oriented businesses. By staying connected with nature as a source of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual healing, and by preserving and re-engaging with traditional cultural activities, they continued to strengthen their cultural identity.

Alaska Indigenous women residing in more rural-like areas often assumed the roles of community stewards and healers. They adapted to new ways of maintaining social ties. Playing important roles as community caretakers, women were usually at the forefront of organizing and leading community responses and initiating projects to increase solidarity and mutual support. While addressing challenges by leveraging their strengths, Indigenous women made crucial steps toward fostering community resilience in Alaska’s Indigenous communities and putting themselves in self-empowering positions.

Through the gender lens of Indigenous women’s experiences, it becomes evident that while the pandemic brought considerable hardships to Indigenous communities in Alaska, and especially to Indigenous women, there were several factors that underpinned women’s resilience during the crisis. Reliance on traditional Indigenous coping mechanisms, such as a sense of community and belonging, supporting one another, the importance of traditional knowledge, and cultural and subsistence practices, especially in rural communities, provided resilience and mitigated the adverse effects in crisis times. In other words, Indigenous cultures and traditional knowledge played a crucial role as coping mechanisms and became pillars of resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic.