COVID-19’s gendered effect on subjective wellbeing in MENA countries

Funding Sponsor

Science and Technology Development Fund

Author's Department

Public Policy & Administration Department

Find in your Library

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-84452-7

All Authors

Ghada Barsoum Mahdi Majbouri

Document Type

Research Article

Publication Title

Scientific Reports

Publication Date

12-1-2025

doi

10.1038/s41598-024-84452-7

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a time of great intensity that exposed many existing inequities in facing this global threat. Building on Galtung’s conceptualization of positive peace as the absence of structural violence and institutionalized inequality, we study the gendered effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on reported subjective wellbeing (SWB) in four countries in the Middle East. Data from mobile phone panel surveys, with a total sample of 12,614 observations collected during this critical juncture, show that women consistently reported a lower level of SWB than men in all four countries. Women experienced higher increases in unemployment rates than men in all four countries, despite their already higher rates prior to the pandemic. Controlling for individual characteristics and geographic-time fixed effects, the main factor associated with lower SWB was the decline in household income, reflecting the intersectionality of poverty and gender. In addition, the reported increase in the time spent on housework negatively affected women’s SWB, particularly in urban areas. The pandemic has further accentuated gender inequality in all four countries and exposed the inherent structural violence experienced by women in these contexts.

Link to Full Text
Find this item online

Share

COinS