Two years of pandemic have worsened the living conditions of women worldwide

Increased gender-based violence, a difficult return to work, a blow to mental health: the two years of the covid-19 pandemic have worsened the living conditions of women in the world. Studies are again sounding the alarm on the occasion of tomorrow's International Women's Day.

Increase in gender-based violence

UN Women published in November 2021 a survey conducted among 16,154 women in 13 middle-income countries (Colombia, Ukraine, Morocco, Bangladesh, etc.). Approximately 45% of these women reported being a victim or knowing a female victim of violence since the beginning of the pandemic.

«Economic insecurity, school closures or even the psychological burden of domestic work created an environment conducive to domestic violence,» explained Lynn-Marie Sardinha and Avni Amin, researchers at the World Health Organization.

And as before the pandemic, women are more victims than men of online violence.

«‘Revenge pornography’ and the risks of pedophile crimes have increased in an alarming way,» added Muriel Salmona, a psychiatrist.

Charged mental health

Two out of five women said in the UN survey that the pandemic has negatively affected their mental health.

This is mainly due to the psychological burden of managing household tasks «which is associated with a higher risk of stress and depression in women than in men», Sardinha and Amin pointed out.

The psychological burden on women was increased by teleworking, the constant presence of children at home and the reduction of expenses.

Another indicator, surveys of women's movements during and after the pandemic, which also show a deterioration in women's mental health.

During the lockdown, women were obliged, like men, to answer to the state for their outings, but often they were also forced to do so to their husbands, recalled Marion Tilloux, professor of gender studies at the University of Paris VIII.

This particular context may have affected «the confidence of women, who no longer dare to venture so far away» from their homes and shut themselves away, according to Tilloux.

The difficulty of teleworking

Sanrinha and Amin also pointed out the difficulty of combining teleworking and domestic work due to the strictness of employers.

«A larger number of women were forced to quit because they could not cope with the double stress of their work and the psychological burden of their home,» the researchers explained.

In addition, research during the pandemic showed that women spent more time on domestic tasks than on work than men and compared to before the pandemic. These surveys reveal that ’inequalities have increased and have taken us back twenty years,« Tilloux complained.

The word of women

«We can talk about a real effort (of associations and state mechanisms) to react more and to deal with domestic violence» after the pandemic, Dr. Salmona pointed out.

But Tilloux expressed her disappointment that the means of providing assistance to victims of gender or domestic violence have remained the same since the beginning of the pandemic.

«We hear more women victims of violence, but they speak in a vacuum,» she complained.

For Sardikhna and Amin, the health crisis has demonstrated the impact of the unequal division of household tasks, which has serious implications for women's mental health.

«The pandemic has given us the opportunity to imagine a different and more equal future for women, especially for those who are most at risk of exclusion or marginalisation,» they suggested.