Domestic burdens amid COVID-19 and women's mental health in middle-income Africa

Valerie Mueller, Karen A. Grépin, Atonu Rabbani, Anne Ngunjiri, Amy Oyekunle and Clare Wenham

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: This article analyzes two longitudinal datasets (October – December 2020; April 2021) of 1,000 and 900 women in Kenya and Nigeria, respectively, alongside in-depth qualitative interviews with women at risk of changes to time use, to study two pandemic issues: women’s substitution of paid for unpaid work and how these shifts compromise their mental health. Women devote more time to domestic care (30–38 percent), less time to employment (29–46 percent), and become unemployed (12–17 percent). A rise in domestic work is correlated with depressive (Nigeria) and anxiety symptoms (Kenya and Nigeria). Women with greater agency (Kenya) and fewer children (Nigeria) are less likely to report a domestic burden or loss in paid activities. Social protection programs may fill the void of assistance traditionally provided by informal networks in the short term, while campaigns shifting norms around household work may preserve women’s economic participation in the long term.

Keywords: agency; domestic work; mental health; women; Kenya; Nigeria; Agency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D13 I00 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 27 pages
Date: 2023-03-20
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
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Published in Feminist Economics, 20, March, 2023, 29(2), pp. 192-218. ISSN: 1354-5701

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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/118553/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Domestic Burdens Amid Covid-19 and Women’s Mental Health in Middle-Income Africa (2023)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:118553

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