Don't Abandon her during these hard times By Amodya Medagedara

 Don’t abandon her during these hard times....

An Insight to the Impact of Covid 19 on Economic Empowerment and Mental

Health of Women.

Amodya Medagedara

Introduction

Empowerment of women is a critical aspect of achieving gender equality. It includes increasing

a woman's sense of self‐worth, decision‐making power, access to opportunities and resources,

her power and control over her own life, and her ability to effect change. The goal number five

of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) proposed by the UN in 2015 , is to achieve

gender equality before 2030.

A main area of focus in attaining gender equality is women's economic and political

empowerment.

Women’s economic empowerment

Although women comprise of more than 50% of world population , the total global wealth of

women is just 1%.

In Sri Lanka, women’s labour force participation rate is at a mere 32.5% in comparison to 72.4%

for men. Similarly, the youth unemployment rate for women is at 36.3% compared with men’s

which is at ,21.1%.

Women’s labour force participation in the country has often been restricted by factors such as

the lack of quality childcare services, lack of support in sharing household work and

unsupportive workplace cultures .

How Covid‐19 has Impacted Women, Economically

According to the 2020 Women in the Workplace study, co‐authored by McKinsey and

LeanIn.org, 1 in 4 US women are now considering leaving the workplace or downshifting

their careers. According to them, mothers have been three times as likely as fathers to be

responsible for a majority of housework and child care and have also been twice as likely as

fathers to worry that their work performance is being judged negatively by the employers

because of their caregiving responsibilities, during the pandemic.

Oxfam International has reported in 2020 alone, women has lost more than 64 million jobs

globally, which equals 5% of the total jobs held by women. By comparison, loss of men’s jobs

were 3.9% last year.

And can you believe the fact that this loss of jobs due to the covid‐19 pandemic had cost

women around the world at least $800 billion in earnings, a figure which is higher than the

combined GDP of 98 countries, according to Oxfam International.

In local context ,as many women are engaged in informal employment, crises such as COVID‐19

have disproportionately affected female‐headed households which is equal to one quarter of

households of Sri Lanka. Many female heads of households therefore lack access to social

protections and are more likely to carry a heavy burden in supporting their families whilst

engaging in unpaid care work and domestic work.

Calculations on women’s employment in Sri Lanka ;an assessment by the International Labour

Organization( Department on Census and Statistics (2020) indicates that women’s involvement

is high in both high‐risk and low‐risk economic sectors of the country.

High‐risk sectors with a relatively high female employment rate are manufacturing (including

textile manufacturing), accommodation and food services, and wholesale and retail. Female

representation is also high in some medium‐high risk and medium risks sectors such as ‘arts,

entertainment, recreation, and other services’ and ‘financial and insurance activities’, as well.

Though ,healthcare is a low‐risk sector, women employed in the health sector have a higher risk

of being exposing to the infection.

Gender based unequal employee segregation is a main cause for this unequal distribution.

Gender‐based employment segregation creates unfavourable labour market conditions like

gender gaps in wages, quality of job and employment curves. Both demand‐side factors and

supply‐side factors, affect the woman’s choice of an employment sector, thus creating

employment segregation.

Impact of Covid 19 on Mental Health of Women

Worldwide, 70% of the health workforce is made up of women who are often frontline health

workers (nurses, midwives and community health workers).Most female health workers have

experienced high levels of anxiety and stress amid and post Covid 19 pandemic. Most are in

fear that their families will get the disease through them.

In sub‐symptom analysis of PCL‐5 (PTSD Checklist for DSM‐5), women suffer more re‐

experiencing, negative alterations in cognition or mood and hyper‐arousal as compared to

men.

Low income, social isolation, loss of bearings, limited premises, loss of loved ones, fear of dying,

difficulties in accessing medical and social services, inability to flee have been identified as main

risk factors for women’s mental health. All these risk factors associated with intra‐family

violence have become increased during the times of the epidemic. In addition, the number of

women being subjected to domestic violence because of male aggression with or without

alcohol has gone‐up dramatically .

Oxfam International’s Executive Director Gabriela Bucher had said in a statement ,“Economic

fallout from the Covid‐19 pandemic is having a harsher impact on women, who are

disproportionately represented in sectors offering low wages, few benefits and the least secure

jobs,”. She explains that the combined impact of unemployment, along with the pressured

feeling to leave the workplace because of child care responsibilities, had made the way to

women losing $800 billion in income ,globally.

According to Oxfam International, only 11 countries of world have introduced flexible work

options to accommodate employees with caregiving responsibilities so far, and only 36 have

strengthened their family and paid sick‐leave policies.

Conclusion

Women around the world women have faced a very tragic state of condition in economic and

financial wise with the hit of the pandemic .

The governments, law‐ making bodies and all corporate bodies should take appropriate actions

by putting women at the center of policy changes in order to assist women to overcome this

state of catastrophe. Female employees should be welcomed back to the workplace. It is

seemingly high time that every society should start appraising the value of the role of women

both in home and at workplace.

Bibliography :

Articles :

1. Courtney Connley@CLASSICALYCOURT, ,“In 1 year ,women globally lost 800$ billion

in income due to Covid 19,new report finds” (2021).

2. Florence Thibaut and Patricia J.M. van Wijngaarden‐Cremers, “Women’s Mental Health

in the Time of Covid 19 Pandemic”.(2020)

3. Kwelin Ellingrud and Liz Hilton Segel, , Covid 19 has driven millions of women out of the

workforce .Here’s how to help them back”(2021).

4. Roesch E, Amin A, Gupta J, and García‐Moreno C. “Violence against women during

covid‐19 pandemic restrictions.” BMJ. (2020)

5. Sunimalee Madurawala , “Sri Lanka’s Gender‐based Employment Segregation: Does it

Increase Women’s Vulnerability Amidst COVID‐19?”(2021).

Websites:

1. https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/countries/sri‐lanka

2. https://www.ips.lk/talkingeconomics/

3. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgwh.2020.588372/full