Globally, 54% women workforce vanished

Visakhapatnam: Globally, 54 per cent women lost their jobs during the Covid pandemic, said Columbia University Medical Centre Public Psychiatry Education Director and Clinical Psychiatry Associate Professor Dr Stephanie M. Le Melle on Saturday. She delivered a keynote address in a global workshop on ‘Stress Coping: Strategies to de-stress’ organised by GITAM Deemed to be University Women Empowerment Cell.

She said Covid is exposing women to greater health risks, threatening livelihoods, exacerbating gender-based violence and forcing women and children into extreme poverty, particularly those living in the most marginalised communities.

She mentioned that 10 per cent of working women missed work weekly because of childcare needs and added that the Covid pandemic international stressor indicated 75 to 90 per cent women labourers were unpaid globally which is leading to more financial stress on families and domestic violence. She suggested that equal access to education for girls, reproductive rights, digital inclusion and access to health care will reduce the stress on women.

Columbia University Psychiatric Integrative Services Director Dr Sasidhar Gunturu said that procrastination, overtly worried about the future and difficulty getting things done are called pandemic brain fog and 76 per cent of Americans are facing this problem.

Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) Centre for Excellence in Teacher Education Associate Professor Dr Gomathi Jatin advised that diary writing is a reflective space where teachers can reclaim their wellbeing and become the authors of their own personal and professional narratives.