The Pandemic’s Preeminent Impact on Women’s Mental Health

Since last March, the world has managed to conduct every interaction from college lectures to divorce proceedings in a virtual space. The minimal-effort sweatpants with a blouse look, and TikTok-inspired at-home workouts were more than appropriate for the period in which we naively thought the pandemic would wrap up in a matter of weeks. But nearly a year later the novelty of wearing loungewear in a professional setting and the relief of sleeping through your morning commute has subsided. COVID-19 is a diabolical disease for its potential to not simply attack various body functions, but to indirectly devastate mental health. In many cases, the latter has been adversely impactful towards women. In tandem with the international non-profit aid organization CARE, the American Psychological Association conducted a study revealing that although very little people were spared from pandemic related fear and fatigue, women are three times (27% to 10%) more likely to report experience with “significant mental health consequences.” These aforementioned consequences ranged in severity from loss of appetite and inability to sleep to anxiety and difficulty completing everyday tasks.

This ambitious inquiry curated the responses of 10,400 women in 38 countries and the United States, and expanded upon qualitative data about anxiety, worry and fear by delving into the factors that influenced these responses. Although I myself was not a participant, the causative factors revealed by the study accurately outlined the experience I watched myself, my female identifying friends and colleagues, and my mother withstand throughout the past year. I wanted to outline some of this data in my blog because I suspect there are multitudes of women emerging from a winter of isolation and angst, guilting themselves for not taking better care of their minds and bodies. I am certainly one of them.

Over and over, CARE director Emily Janoch and her colleagues found that women were subjected to weathering economic blows while men were spared. In the United States, 11.5 million women were laid off from their employment, compared to 9 million men. These losses of course happened in an economic system in which women comprise 66% of the nation's lowest earning jobs. When schools closed their doors, the burden of child care in combination with administering an education fell disproportionately to women, and emotional burdens such as household upkeep were completed by men in only 18% of the nation’s homes. As a result, women are reporting higher rates of experience with anxiety, depression and loneliness than men are.

Uncertainty by itself is emotionally brutal, but coupled with job insecurity and increased responsibilities, it becomes a perfect storm. This storm withstands as the population becomes increasingly vaccinated and we shift into a sense of normalcy. I encourage everyone to keep the multiple roles women undertake in mind. As women, we all benefit from taking help and support when we need it, and none of us should hesitate from constructing systems of support that prioritize our mental wellness. It is crucial that we acknowledge the fatigue and stress we have all undertaken throughout the past year and offer ourselves and others compassion.

image source:

instagram - careorg