Domestic Burdens Amid Covid-19 and Women’s Mental Health in Middle-Income Africa

Bibliographic Data

ID12546994
AuthorsValerie Mueller (0000-0003-1246-2141, School of Politics and Global Studies, Arizona State University, PO Box 873902, Tempe, AZ, 85297-3902, USA; IFPRI, 1201 Eye Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005 USA, corresponding author), Karen A Grépin (0000-0003-4368-0045, University of Hong Kong), Ali Rabbani (0000-0002-3821-4106, BRAC University), Anne S Wangui Ngunjiri (0000-0001-6893-9047, LVCT Health), Anne Ngunjiri (LVCT Health, Nairobi, Kenya), Amy Oyekunle (Independent Gender Advisor, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada), Clare Wenham (0000-0001-5378-3203, London School of Economics and Political Science)
Year2023
Volume29
Issue2
Pages192-218
Publication date2023-03-20
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFeminist Economics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1354-5701 • E-ISSN: 1466-4372
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13545701.2023.2174566
OpenAlexW4327957547
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited50

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

Agency (philosophy · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Domestic work · Economic growth · Economics · Kenya · Mental health · Pandemic · Political science · Psychiatry · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Work (physics · COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts · Employment and Welfare Studies · Medicine · Work-Family Balance Challenges