CSO: Covid-19 has hit people's well-being more than the crash, with women affected more
A Central Statistics Office (CSO) survey has found that women’s well-being has suffered more than men's from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The CSO research carried out between Thursday, April 23, and Friday, May 1, shows that overall life satisfaction is lower for both women and men than in 2013 when the country was experiencing the effects of the 2008 financial crisis.
However, the results from last month show that the percentage of women reporting “Low” satisfaction with overall life is more than double the rate in 2013, 36.7% and 15.1% respectively. The rate for men now reporting the same is at 22% compared with 15.5% in 2013.
The greater affect on women can be seen by the finding that 38.6% women reported feeling “downhearted and depressed”, whereas 26% of men felt the same.
CSO Statistician, Claire Burke, said: "There is evidence suggesting an association between psychological distress and changes in alcohol, tobacco and junk food consumption".
They found that more women than men reported an increase in their consumption of these - 23.4% and 20.9% respectively for alcohol, 34.7% and 26.2% for tobacco, 54.3% and 35.6% for junk foods.
Women report lower overall life satisfaction than men in April 2020https://t.co/PWBm1DVbFf #CSOIreland #Ireland #Wellbeing #WomenAndMen #WomenAndMenInIreland #SocialInclusion #SocialImpact #LifeSatisfaction pic.twitter.com/H09o8PErHv
— Central Statistics Office Ireland (@CSOIreland) May 19, 2020
However, data found that women are more worried than men about their own health and somebody else’s health, with more than one in four women (27.6%) “extremely” concerned compared to one in five men (20.1%).
They also found that double the amount of women, 10.9%, are “extremely” concerned about maintaining social ties than men (5.4%).
Tied in with keeping up social ties is a desire to return to work, where almost half (48.6%) of women who are new to working from home reported that they would like to return to their place of work after Covid-19 restrictions are lifted. This compares to less than one in three (31.7%) men.
Men preferred a mixture of working from home and at their place of work (60.9%) when compared with women (43.9%).
Ms Burke said: "This may be partly explained by another CSO survey - "The Employment and Life effects of COVID-19" survey published by the CSO on 13 May 2020 - which found that 21% of women are caring for a dependent family member or friend because of the pandemic. This compares with 15% of men.
"It also found that women are more likely to have childcare issues related to the Covid-19 crisis (9% women compared with 6% men) while women are finding it more difficult to work from home because of family being around (11% women compared with 9% men)."