Today is day 5 of Jean Hailes Women’s Health Week 2022an initiative dedicated to all women in Australia to make good health a priority.
Women do most of the unpaid domestic work around the world and the added burden has an impact on their mental health, but there is surprisingly little independent empirical research on this.
Now, there is data showing that the double burden of paid and unpaid work results in greater psychological or depressive distress for women as unpaid work increases.
Researchers from the University of Melbourne reviewed the evidence for the gendered nature of unpaid work and the mental health consequences among employed adults. publication their results in Lancet Public Health.
Public health researcher and lead author Jen Ervin says the research showed women were consistently doing more unpaid work across all geographic and temporal settings.
“What our review tells us is that in addition to the economic penalty women experience from doing most of the world’s unpaid work, there is also a worrying cost to mental health,” she says.
While more research is needed, Ervin says the most widely recognized explanation for the impact on mental health is that the combined paid and unpaid workload triggers stress-related pathways. It also reduces time for activities that are known to protect mental health, such as sleep, leisure, and physical activity.
The findings won’t surprise many, especially women, he says.
By the way. The study continues census data confirming (once again) that Australian women do more hours of unpaid domestic work than men. Y another report This week, commissioned by the Chief Executive of Women, stating that caregiving responsibilities in the pandemic have slowed progress in women’s participation and leadership in the workforce.
For what seems like an intractable problem, what can be done to turn things around?
Ervin says: “We believe that policies such as universal childcare and the normalization of flexible work arrangements and extended parental leave for men can help turn the dial and drive greater gender equality in the division of unpaid work. and unpaid care.
“Some of these measures will also help and ease the more difficult task of changing some of the outdated attitudes and beliefs around the division of labor.”
It is important to note that many men are taking a more active role in childcare and household chores. But men can be limited from doing so by factors like inflexible workplace arrangements or social stigma, she says.
Research from the University of Melbourne focused on employed adults, the ‘double burden’ effect of combining paid work with unpaid work, and how this creates problems of time overload and scarcity. He found substantial gender differences.
Of the 14 studies reviewed for the article, with a total of more than 66,800 participants worldwide, five examined unpaid work (including care), nine examined domestic work time, and of these, four they also examined child care.
Overall, in 11 of the 14 studies, women self-reported an increase in depressive symptoms or psychological distress with increasing unpaid job demands. For men, only three of a possible 12 studies reported any negative associations.
One aspect that is not captured in the current review, says Ervin, is the difference in the allocation of housework by gender. For example, men often perform less time-sensitive outdoor or maintenance tasks, such as mowing lawns or cleaning gutters. These jobs aren’t as pressed for time as feeding a hungry child or taking him on a date.
And although it is more difficult to measure, other investigations shows that women also tend to bear a greater share of the mental burden of housework.
Unfortunately, Australia is falling behind many other countries when it comes to key indicators of gender equality, such as the division of unpaid labour, says Ervin.
Read more: Towards a world with gender equality
this week a report commissioned by Chief Executive Women drew attention to the lack of progress made by Australia’s leading companies in appointing women to leadership positions. The report, produced by management consultancy Bain & Company, says that 73% of executive positions at ASX300 companies are held by men and 85% of line management positions. The report says that COVID-19 delayed women’s participation in the workforce, as they shouldered the bulk of increased caregiving responsibilities.
This is consistent with recommendations of other research from the University of Melbourne that shows the “catastrophic” impact of the pandemic on the lives of women, especially mothers. Restrictions like school closures and remote learning added to the domestic workload for everyone, but the gender gap remained. Women, more often than men, reduced their paid work to meet rising demands.
The Murdoch Children’s Research Institute also reported Maternal well-being was profoundly affected by the pandemic, with a third of women experiencing clinically significant mental health problems during Victoria’s second lockdown, with ongoing fatigue and parental stress.
