Recently, an article in The Hindu, mentioned about a mother in Assam developing nervousness and fear in this lockdown period and incessantly disinfecting things in fear of corona virus¹. This is one of the many cases of mental unrest incited by the pandemic and the lockdown that followed. The Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CCDC) found that the fatality rate for men at 2.8 % was higher than women's at 1.7%. Despite this, we believe Covid-19 has affected women much more profoundly. What makes us give more attention to women? Due to various social, cultural, and economic factors, women are subjected to further suffering and subjugation due to the patriarchal social set up. Although in these hard times women are going through harsh physical and psychological troubles, sometimes psychological challenges get swept under the carpet and its enduring consequences are ignored. In 2000, World Health Organization (WHO) declared gender to be a critical determinant of mental health and illness. They stated that "gender determines the differential power and control men and women have over the socioeconomic determinants of their mental health and lives". Following the corona virus outbreak , the Inter-Agency Standing Committee(IASC) has also called for "gender sensitive" deployment of health care services, especially mental health.
CASE STUDY
The very visible and one of the most discussed impacts of lockdown is the economic loss caused by the mass shutdowns but unfortunately what remains invisible is the psychological aftermath of it on women, particularly dependents and homemakers. This is what Suman*, a woman in her forties and a homemaker say when asked about the impact of lockdown. Her responses were drenched in dismay and anxiety - there is no income, she is not sure when her husband will get back to work and this has become a major reason for anger, frustration and constant fights with her husband. This is true for most houses among low or medium-income groups and with less job security, where only husbands are breadwinners and women homemakers, forcing them to extreme rationing, denial of the proper amount of nutritious food, which is affecting their overall mental health.
Things become more difficult for women who are living alone right now, for example, Rohini* who is in her mid-thirties and is living alone with her two small kids as her husband, who went to some other city before lockdown is stuck there. She is managing everything on her own – from going to the grocery to managing her small kids, which she hasn’t, ever, done before alone. All this is taking a toll on her mental health, not to mention the constant paranoia of catching the virus. Most of the women we contacted admitted that they are going through anxious/erratic mood, inability to experience pleasure, difficulty with attention/memory, changes in appetite and sleep, fatigue, bodily pain and thoughts of personal harm and suicide. The conditions are more challenging for migrant women and pregnant women as the physical changes they are experiencing in the times of isolation can increase their risk of depression.
The situation has always been challenging for working women, but now with lockdown, they are overburdened and have less personal space which is causing anxiety, stress and if continued over a period of time even depression. The account given by Smita* explains the case. As she is working from home, she is constantly trying to manage her meetings, chores and kids who are now at home all the time since the schools are shut. She feels completely emotionally drained and this has affected her mental health too. Lockdowns and self – quarantine measures across the world have increased women’s “caregiving” tasks. According to UNESCO, 300 million children are missing schools globally due to current virus outbreak, increasing the responsibilities of women and causing mental health-related issues.
They have to maintain the balance between the work hours of sleep, household chores and leisure. Due to increasing household works and constant official works, there is hardly any time left for rest and leisure. Due to deficiency of leisure and increasing burden of work, most of the working women are suffering from stress, emotional frustration, depression.
Elderly women are facing their own challenges, with no social contact, they are facing isolation, tension and despair. Shanti Devi*, who is in her late sixties had never imagined something like this. Lockdown has instilled in her extreme helplessness as now she cannot meet people or talk to them. She says that earlier she used to go out and have a chat with her neighbours, now everyone is behaving paranoid and is afraid to talk. Things become critical for the elderly as they cannot hope to connect online as they aren’t tech-savvy.
Separation from college/friends has not only affected the social life of girls but is also affecting their self – esteem, filling them with constant mental tension about future prospects. Manju* who is in her third year right now, tells how much suffocating this experience has been for her. She says girls always used to have their ‘curfew’ time and similar restrictions but now, due to lockdown, she feels she has lost the little ‘independence’ she had and is having self-doubt, losing self-worth, tormented by uncertainty regarding her future and a general feeling of negativity and hopelessness has clouded her mind. This is a reality for most girls who are living in joint families, feeling constrained mentally, joyless. This emptiness over time may cause extreme levels of stress, anxiety, depression and if persists, then other disorders. Lack of peer circles and support, unwinding spaces and patriarchal mindset are the major reasons that make women victim of frustration, especially in lockdown with care and support from outside barely accessible. This can seriously affect women’s mental health and be a cause of disorders.
WAY FORWARD
The COVID-19 epidemic is a public health emergency of international concern and poses a challenge to political, economic and psychological aspects of people's life. Although it is said that COVID-19 hasn't discriminated between race, religion, caste, and gender, we see its impact to be varied and women needing more attention because of social conditions prevailing in our society.
From the above case studies, it is seen that women are undergoing psychological impacts which are irreversible and enduring. Since the focus is on battling the visible consequences of the disease, the symptoms and sufferings of women and their mental health gets neglected, and hence it makes the crisis more grave. The mental health of women in the family is something which affects everyone and it’s important to encourage women to talk about it and they shouldn’t be made guilty for having any issue or stress. Women should not push themselves too hard to take care of the family. It would be better if the workload is shared by the family members equally. Also, employers should start paying attention to the mental health of employees, give some leverage to women workers who are burdened with domestic work. Health ministry should also look into the issue of psychological health and ensure access to online counselling. Volunteers should be trained to assist women who are in distress in lockdown and they should be treated as corona warriors as they are fighting a hard battle too.
Covid-19 response plans, relief packages and budgeting of resources need to address the gendered dimension in the impact of this pandemic. This can include designing socio-economic plans with an intentional focus on the lives and future of women . Putting women and girls at the centre of any strategy devised shall fundamentally derive better and result in the most sustainable outcome for all.
References
Azera Parveen Rahman, ‘Isolation and mental health: the psychological impact of lockdown’ April 6, 2020.
Swarnima Bhattacharya, ‘What COVID – 19 teaches us about women’s mental health' – Timesofindia.com, April 11, 2020.
American journals of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
The UN Guidance note: Addressing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on women migrant workers
https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2020/04/guidance-note-addressing-the-impacts-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-on-women-migrant-workersInternational Growth Centre
Websites referred:
plan.international.org
digitallibrary.in.one.un.org
OTHER SOURCE –
We conducted telephonic interviews with women across ages.
NOTE: (*) Names are changed to maintain confidentiality.
WRITTEN BY: SHIKHA GAUTAM AND JAHNAVI CHOURASIA
A much- needed topic brought to fore. Well done.
ReplyDeleteVery vital issue raised... Awesome 👍👍
ReplyDeleteThis is informative
ReplyDeleteThis is truly a very thought provoking peice.. well done!
ReplyDelete