Women have borne an outsized social, economic burden during pandemic
From March 2020 to September 2021, women were more likely than men to lose their jobs, forego work to care for others, and report increasing violence, and women and girls were more likely than men and boys to drop out of school for reasons other than school closures, according to a study yesterday in The Lancet.
University of Washington at Seattle researchers reviewing public datasets found that relative to men, women were more likely to report job loss (26.0% vs 20.4%) and staying home from work to care for others (1:8 ratio of men to women in March, 2.4 by September). They were also 1.23 times more likely to say that gender-based violence had increased during the pandemic.
Women and girls were 1.21 times more likely than men to say they dropped out of school for reasons other than school closures. Women and men didn't significantly differ in terms of vaccine hesitancy or uptake.
The study authors said that the disparities highlighted in the study show that the pandemic exacerbated already-widespread inequalities between men and women.
"Political and social leaders should prioritise policies that enable and encourage women to participate in the labour force and continue their education, thereby equipping and enabling them with greater ability to overcome the barriers they face," they wrote.
In a Lancet news release, senior author Emmanuela Gakidou, PhD, called for an investment in empowering women to ensure that progress toward gender equity doesn't unravel further. "We cannot let the social and economic fallouts from the pandemic continue into the post-COVID era," she said. "Action must be taken now to not only reverse the current disparities, but to further close the gaps present before the pandemic began."
In a related commentary, Rosemary Morgan, PhD, of Johns Hopkins University, Denise Nacif Pimenta, PhD, of Rene Rachou Institute in Brazil, and Sabina Rashid, PhD, of BRAC University in Bangladesh, said that the manifestations of gender inequities depend on the context.
"It is therefore important that global analyses do not take the place of regional or national level analyses: if policy is going to effectively address gender inequities, we must understand the ways in which inequities manifest at every level, paying attention to and actively recognising the diverse variations and contexts," they wrote.
Mar 2 Lancet study, commentary, and news release
Study: Spending time outdoors lessened pandemic anxiety, depression
Denver residents who spent significant time in green space during the pandemic had lower levels of anxiety and depression, according to a new study in PLOS One.
The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder and tracked mood changes and green space use during the first year of the pandemic among 1,200 Denver residents. Respondents' answers were paired with satellite images of green space near residential addresses.
In the survey, one third (33%) of participants said they spent more time in green spaces during the pandemic than in pre-COVID times. A total of 31% of respondents reported that they lost job-related income due to the pandemic, and 35% said they were impacted financially by the pandemic. Thirteen percent reported spending a lot of time online or watching TV trying to find information about COVID-19, the authors said.
The respondents with the most stress, anxiety, or depression, reported having a difficult time locating goods during the pandemic, including food and toilet paper. Contracting COVID-19 was not associated with significant stress.
"This research shows how critical it is to keep parks and green spaces open in times of crisis," said senior author Colleen Reid, PhD, an assistant professor of geography in the Institute for Behavioral Science in a press release. "It also shows that, as a public health measure, more effort should be made to put in green spaces and make them accessible."
The research also supports the "biophilia hypothesis," an idea that humans have better health outcomes when they spend time outdoors.
Mar 2 PLOS One study
Mar 2 University of Colorado press release