Delhi, India
Ever since the world got hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, all of us have faced a number of challenges that we weren't expecting to tackle in the pre-COVID era. The challenging times tested us in ways more than one. Many lost their jobs, got relocated, and lost a fortune due to the pandemic's impact. To sum it up, we can say that it was a stressful time for all of us. Now, in one of the largest studies on womenâs well-being, it has been found that levels of stress, anxiety, worry, sadness and anger among women worldwide were at a 10-year high in 2021 post-pandemic.
According to Hologic Global Womenâs Health Index, which conducts an annual survey to provide timely, globally comprehensive data from women's perspectives on their health and wellbeing, worry, stress and anger levels among women rose by 3%, while sadness rose by 6% in 2021 as compared to 2020. The stats are all record highs since the Hologic Global Womenâs Health Index began tracking emotional health almost a decade ago.
The survey that was conducted among 66,000 women from 122 countries also reported that 43% of respondents said they experienced some form of worry in 2021, 41% reported feeling stressed, 32% reported feeling sad, and 26% reported feeling angry.
âThe lack of progress and, in some cases, backward momentum justify an even louder wake-up call for world leaders to do more for women, whose well-being underpins the health of families, communities, societies and economies,â said Hologic president and CEO Steve MacMillan.
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The gender gap in emotional health between men and women has also widened within a year, as 39% of men report feeling worried, 39% stressed, 26% sad, and 21% angry.
âA lot of that has to do with traditional roles in terms of caregiving and responsibility for making sure that children are fed and tending to illnesses â even in high-resourced countries,â said Dr Elizabeth Fitelson, director of the womenâs program at Columbia Universityâs psychiatry department. âMany of these burdens still disproportionately fall on women in addition to needing to work and having multiple roles.â