86% women facing mental health

issues due to the pandemic

pressure: UK survey
The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down economies and
people are facing the brunt of stress and tensity, working from
home. Women, especially are getting affected more due to
their disproportionate schedules altered due to work-from-
home and household chores duties. This has given rise to
severe mental health problems among many women.
The UK has been leading a 4-Day Week campaign to tackle the
mental health issue of overwork among individuals. A report by
the campion and think tank, Compass, there has been a rise of
mental distress by 49% among employees, as compared to the
year 2017-19. The working hours have increased significantly.
Women have been facing more difficulties as they have to work
and take care of their children as well.
The report focused that Britain has been facing burnouts and
that women have more likely increased their working hours by
43% than the standard work time, as compared to men. But
those women who have children dealt with more mental health
problems last year. This stat stands at a whopping 86% of
women and this is more than or equivalent to the UK’s average.
Emma Mamo, head of the workplace wellbeing at the mental
health charity Mind, said that employees felt relieved when
they were given the option of starting later or sharing some job
roles with others. This was an encouragement for staff
wellbeing which is very essential for a workplace’s productivity.
“As we try and manage our lives around Covid-19, employers
could take forward more measures such as working from home
or different hours to suit people’s lives,” Mamo said.
The report also stated that the impending recession and mass
unemployment can lead to an unprecedented mental health
crisis.

The UK government formed a working time commission for the

public sector. The 4 Day Week campaign aims to reduce
workload pressure by encouraging individuals to work for four
days a week. This way, shorter working time can lead to equal
work share among all, across the economy.

Joe Ryle, a campaigner with the 4 Day Week campaign, said:

“It’s extremely concerning that overall the shift to working
remotely has resulted in workers doing more hours and not
less. This country desperately needs a four-day working week
to rebalance the economy, boost mental health and give
people more time to spend doing the things they love.”

Lisa Cameron MP, SNP spokesperson for mental health, gravely

specified that the report was an eye-opener and it’s really
important to strive and maintain a work-life balance in the
society. This will economically prove beneficial for businesses
and employees alike.

“The four-day working week has emerged in recent months as a

potential avenue for flexible working across the economy,
which is why the Scottish government has set up a commission
to explore the possibility further in Scotland.”

WFH can negatively

impact mental and
physical health: Study
Work from home took a toll on female workers
and those with infants had a higher change of
reporting a new mental health issue
Work from home (WFH) can negatively impact
workers’ mental and physical health according to a
new study by researchers at the University of
Southern California published in the Journal of
Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
As per the study, working from home “increased
work expectations and distractions, reduced our
communications with co-workers, and ultimately
lessened our productivity.”

Commoditie
The study states that the time spent at the work
station has increased by at least 1.5 hours. Workers
are also likely to have less job satisfaction and
increased neck pain when working from home.
As per the report, more than 64 per cent of
respondents reported having one or more new
physical health issues while working from home
while nearly 75 per cent experienced one new
mental health issue.
WFH took a toll on female workers
Female workers with an annual salary of less than a
lakh were more likely affected by mental health
issues than male workers. Workers with higher
income also reported two or more new physical and
mental health issues, the report noted. They were
also more likely to suffer from depression.
For working parents, those with infants had a
higher chance of reporting a new mental health
issue despite the tendency of having better mental
well-being. “Having toddlers was affiliated with
physical well-being but it was also associated with
more physical and mental health issues,” the report
said.
Professionals who adjusted their work hours
around others were also more likely to report a new
health issue. More than one-third of the
respondents reported scheduling their work hours
around others.
“Workers decreased overall physical activity,
mental well-being and exercise, combined with
increased overall food intake,” the report added.
Workers also struggled with creating an efficient
work environment at home. Out of the people
surveyed, one-third of workers had a dedicated
room for their work at home while at least 47. 6 per
cent of workers shared their workspace with
others.
“The quality of your home workspace is important;
having a dedicated workspace signal to others that
you are busy, minimises the chances of being
distracted and interrupted. Increased satisfaction
with the environmental quality factors in your
workspace, such as lighting, temperature, is
associated with a lower chance of having new
health issues. Also, knowing how to adjust your
workspace helps with physical health,” Becerik-
Gerber, the study’s corresponding author said.
The study is based on a survey conducted during
the early days of the pandemic. Nearly 1,000
respondents had participated in the survey.

Coronavirus Has Caused A

Crisis In Women’s Mental
Health, According To Study
September marked six months since some governments
announced the beginning of lockdown restrictions. Around
the world, people had to get used to spending less time
outdoors and seeing loved ones less. Cabin fever has been a
serious issue and it’s not surprising that many people have
revealed that their anxiety levels have gone through the roof.
However, a new study has revealed that the pandemic has
caused a crisis in women’s mental health. In the first study of
its kind, non-profit international aid organization CARE
spoke to people around the globe about what they’re worried
about and they deduced that the pandemic has had a
devastating impact on women's mental health. 

As life started to change due to the pandemic, the World

Health Organisation released guidelines on how to cope. They
included not using substances as a coping mechanism and
limiting the time you spend looking at the news. However, no
one could have anticipated the impact that Covid-19 would
have on people's mental health. CARE spoke to 6,200 women
and 4,000 men in nearly 40 countries around the world. It’s
the first piece of research of its kind and they wanted to
establish how people were dealing with the challenges posed
by Covid-19. 
One of the biggest disparities they found in their research was
that 27% of women had reported increases in challenges in
relation to mental illness. This compared to 10% of men. They
identified that due to the fact that unpaid labor in the house
had increased exponentially in many cases this had led to
stress, worries about food, work and health care. Women were
also almost twice as likely to report that accessing quality
healthcare services that they needed had been harder during
the pandemic. 
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As people have faced new working conditions and isolation,

it’s hardly surprising that mental health has suffered.
However, added pressures like looking after families and not
having access to services can make things a lot more difficult.
Speaking about the research, Director of Knowledge
Management at CARE and primary author of the report Emily
Janoch said, “Six months ago, CARE sounded the alarm that
the global health crisis would only widen the gender gap and
reverse decades of progress across women’s health, nutrition
and economic stability. And after six months of listening to
women and capturing their stories, our alarm bell is ringing
louder than ever. Our data must be a call to action for the
entire global community to mount a more effective and
equitable response to Covid-19.”
CARE identified three key areas of difference between the
genders during the pandemic- mental health, food and jobs.
55% of women who spoke to CARE said they’d experienced
some sort of income loss in relation to Covid-19. This
compared to 34% of men. Due to the fact that women are
more likely to work part-time hours or in the informal sector,
they were also found to be worse hit professionally. When it
came to challenges in the home, 41% of women said they were
concerned about a lack of food compared to 30% of men. 
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“There is power in listening to women. These cumulative

responses provide invaluable insights into how the
humanitarian and development systems can further adapt
their work to support a more effective and equitable Covid-19
response,” said Janoch, “while reinforcing the critical
importance of understanding what women need, and how
their experience is different from men.”
While the physical health and economic impact of Covid-19
have been huge, charities and organizations have also outlined
how people’s mental health has deteriorated as lockdown
measures increased. Mental health charity Mind called
the pandemic a mental health emergency and reported that
more than half of adults (60%) and over two-thirds of young
people (68%) have said their mental health got worse during
the lockdown. They found that young people are more likely to
have experienced poor mental health during the lockdown
and people with experience of mental health problems are
more likely to see their mental health worsen as a result of
restrictions. 
As every aspect of life has changed as a direct result of the
pandemic, it isn’t surprising that people have reported that
they feel their mental health has deteriorated. It’s brought up
new challenges as job security and access to food, medical
care and resources have been called into question. As some
countries struggle to deal with further outbreaks, it’s essential
that people finding life incredibly tough during the pandemic
get the help they need.