Double Burden? Work uncertainty, family separation, and women’s mental health during COVID-19: Evidence from 2020-2022

• In Event: Sociology of Sex and Gender Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 4. Embodiment, Medicine, and Health

Abstract

My research focuses on the gendered effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on married adults’ mental health in China, with particular attention to women. Using quantitative methods, specifically regression models, I examine how pandemic-related work uncertainty and family separation are associated with depressive symptoms, and whether these associations differ for women and men. A large body of research shows that women experienced disproportionate health risks, increased depression and anxiety, and heavier domestic burdens during this period. Restrictions such as remote work, reduced hours, and family separations were particularly severe in China, intensifying the gendered double burden of paid and unpaid labor. This topic is sociologically significant because it demonstrates how global crises intersect with entrenched gender norms and family structures to produce measurable inequalities in mental health outcomes between women and men.

Authors

• Xinyu Shi, Case Western Reserve University

• Jia Wang, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University