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The Gendered Crisis: Livelihoods and Mental Well-Being in India during COVID-19

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  • Afridi, Farzana

    (Indian Statistical Institute)

  • Dhillon, Amrita

    (King's College London)

  • Roy, Sanchari

    (King's College London)

Abstract

This paper studies the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the gendered dimensions of employment and mental health among urban informal-sector workers in India. First, we find that men's employment declined by 84 percentage points during pandemic relative to pre-pandemic employment, while their monthly earnings fell by 89 per cent relative to the baseline mean. In contrast, women did not experience any significant impact on employment during pandemic, as reported by their husbands. Second, we document very high levels of pandemic-induced mental stress, with wives reporting greater stress than husbands. Third, this gendered pattern in pandemic-induced mental stress is partly explained by men's employment losses, which affected wives more than husbands. In contrast, women staying employed during the pandemic is associated with worse mental health for them and their (unemployed) husbands. Fourth, pre-existing social networks are associated with higher mental stress for women relative to men, possibly due to the 'home-based' nature of women's networks.

Suggested Citation

  • Afridi, Farzana & Dhillon, Amrita & Roy, Sanchari, 2022. "The Gendered Crisis: Livelihoods and Mental Well-Being in India during COVID-19," IZA Discussion Papers 15822, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15822
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    Cited by:

    1. Ishaan Bansal & Kanika Mahajan, 2021. "COVID-19, Income Shocks and Female Employment," Working Papers 69, Ashoka University, Department of Economics.
    2. Michael Vlassopoulos & Abu Siddique & Tabassum Rahman & Debayan Pakrashi & Asad Islam & Firoz Ahmed, 2024. "Improving Women's Mental Health during a Pandemic," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 16(2), pages 422-455, April.
    3. Farzana Afridi & Kanika Mahajan & Nikita Sangwan, 2022. "Employment Guaranteed? Social Protection During a Pandemic," Oxford Open Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 1, pages 1-15.
    4. Bau, Natalie & Khanna, Gaurav & Low, Corinne & Shah, Manisha & Sharmin, Sreyashi & Voena, Alessandra, 2022. "Women’s well-being during a pandemic and its containment," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    5. Chakravorty, Bhaskar & Bhatiya, Apurav Yash & Imbert, Clément & Lohnert, Maximilian & Panda, Poonam & Rathelot, Roland, 2023. "Impact of the COVID-19 crisis on India’s rural youth: Evidence from a panel survey and an experiment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    6. Lauren Hoehn-Velasco & Adan Silverio-Murillo & Jose Roberto Balmori de la Miyar & Jacob Penglase, 2022. "The impact of the COVID-19 recession on Mexican households: evidence from employment and time use for men, women, and children," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 763-797, September.
    7. Afridi, Farzana & Dhillon, Amrita, 2022. "Social Networks and the Labour Market," IZA Discussion Papers 15774, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender; social networks; mental health; wage employment; COVID-19; India;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand

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