Mental Health, Women , Girls and a Pandemic: The Complex Intersection

According to the World Health Organisation(WHO), Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.\" An important implication of this definition is that mental health is more than just the absence of mental disorders or disabilities[1].WHO further defines mental health as “a state of a state of well-being in which an individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community”.

Various factors determine our mental health such as social factors –how we relate with others, whether we keep problems to ourselves or share them out, psychological factors and biological factors. It is often said that women talk out issues while men tend to keep things closed in their chests. Positive mental health includes emotion, cognition, and social functioning and coherence. (WHO: 2009). Mental health is a key determinant of overall health and socio-economic development. It influences a variety of outcomes for individuals and communities such as healthier lifestyles; better physical health; improved recovery from illness; fewer limitations in daily living; higher education attainment; greater productivity, employment and earnings; better relationships with adults and with children; more social cohesion and engagement and improved quality of life (WHO: 2009).

Women are often known to be caregivers, taking care of the health of other family members but not taking care of themselves. In families that have members with chronic illnesses, it is often women and girls who are tasked with providing care. The supportive roles include provision of home based care, palliative care to manage pain, taking care of children and well as running errands within the family. This overload on women and girls also has implications for their mental health and wellbeing.

Gender based violence continues to flourish in the context of Covid 19 pandemic exists in all societies and no women irrespective of her socio-economic status is exempt from violence. GBV is also as a result of societal acceptance of manifestation of manliness through violence. GBV is about unequal power relations between men and women. Violence  is an almost daily occurrence  in the lives of many Kenyan women .Human Rights Watch  reports Kenyan government data which  observed that 45 percent of  women and girls in Kenya aged 15- 49 have experienced physical violence and 14 % have experienced sexual violence[2].In addition , access to justice for many women and girls victims of gender based violence is a mirage because  many do not report cases  for fear of victimisation by  relatives , there are inadequate safe houses for survivors of domestic violence .

It is a Catch 22 situation for a wife to report a case of domestic violence where he husband is the perpetrator and come back to the same house, this is because she will either face more violence or further ostracism by her family. Additionally, access to justice also becomes a challenge especially with delays in the justice system as some cases drag for years[3]. Some women allow violence because of the sake of children. There is the burden of fear of uncertainty with regards to what the future holds. It is quite sad to see women beaten, with swollen faces, sometimes the beating is done in areas which are not visible. Incidences for example of abused women coming to work with swollen faces and claiming they fell on the stairs is something often heard in the world of work. Young women continue to stay in abusive relationships either because of economic dependence on men or the presumption that the man will eventually change.

For women and girls, the Covid pandemic spells doom both within the household and the community at large. Many countries are going through a return of lockdown and restrictions as Covid 19 enters the 3rd wave. School closures and other forms of restrictions may mean continued abuse or violence in the household. The partial lockdown[4] for example Kenya means that remittances to the rural areas will be negatively affected. Rural communities in Kenya depend on remittances that comes from cities and towns through sons, daughters and other relatives employed in these localities. With Kenya’s latest lockdown, 5 areas; Nairobi, Kajiado, Nakuru, Machakos and Kiambu[5] are affected, and no road, railway or air transport permitted across the 5 regions. Hotel workers have been rendered jobless, these are families who depended on daily customers who come to these joints. These closures also lead to another layer of mental anguish because money is no longer flowing into the affected households, disrupting access to basic services.

For female students, the Covid 19 pandemic brings about anxiety over exams, unstable finances, emotional turmoil and an uncertainty about the future. Students are also hit by realities and stress of online classes and online exams in an environment where gadgets (mobile phones) are ill prepared for digital learning. The cost implications   of online learning is also a source of stress. There is also anxiety on how they will survive given the hard economic times brought about by Covid 19 manifested by parents and / guardians losing jobs, forced relocation of some families to the rural areas because they can no longer afford to survive in cities and town due to disrupted sources of livelihoods.For teenage mothers , Covid 19 brings anxiety about what the young one's will eat , how society will perceive the teenage moms , how they will be reintegrated back to school, how  fellow pupils will perceive the teenage mothers and of course anxiety  what the future holds.For families that have lost their loved ones to Covid 19 related complications , a lot of unanswered questions  go through their minds including how they will cope.

With the continued uncertainty of Covid 19 and the inherent stigma that comes with an illness that is not well understood, mental health of women and girls continues to be affected. The lock downs bring uncertainty especially for wage workers on how they will survive. For women who depend on daily work, soaring cases of Covid 19 means loss of customers, for example those who clean clothes for a living will no longer get clientele because of fear. The disrupted sources of incomes mean families readjusting what they eat or with some even going to bed hungry. Women are also getting blamed when children become truants, when a child performs well in exams, the child belongs to the father, but when they do wrong, they are said to belong to the mother, placing more blame on already burdened women. When teenagers get pregnant their mothers have a lot of explanation to do as to why and how their daughters got pregnant. Less blame falls on the males who made these girls pregnant, it is the girls who have to withdraw from school to nurse babies whereas males continue with their education unaffected. Despite the government directive on back to school for all teenagers who got pregnant, not all girls have been able to go back to school. For vulnerable households, a teenager’s pregnancy means more expenses, and an extra mouth to feed. There are also some males who lure young girls into relationships and take advantage of these girls only for the girls to end up pregnant.For a moment , imagine the plight of women and girls in conflict zones across different parts of Africa and the mental status of women and girls in affected places such as  Cabo Delgado province in Mozambique , women struggling in geographical locations that are arid , have inadequate food and water and security is a mirage such as the case of  conflicting communities in Baringo in Kenya.Imagine having to sleep in the bush because your house has been destroyed by bandits , and that bush has wild animals including slithering snakes.

The home which in an ideal situation should be a place of love and protection is another platform where violence occurs. Being in an abusive household and having no means of escape also brings more stress to mothers and wives, in addition the pandemic and return to lockdown makes the escape even harder. Sometimes girls are defiled by the very family members supposed to protect them. The restrictions on movement may mean that women and girls have higher stress levels and less support leading to incidences of depression. Soaring levels of Covid 19 and the inherent restrictions means that purchasing power of would be consumers is affected, as families concentrate on buying the most basic goods or services. It also means that for women who were selling their produce in other counties, the closure of inter-county movement means losses of sources of livelihood. For women undertaking petty trading in the local village shop, it means customers are taking product on credit with promises of paying at a later date. This affects restocking and in the long run will affect the functioning of these businesses.

It is therefore very important to think about the mental anguish Covid 19 has brought to women and girls , and reach out to women and girls in our communities .Sometimes women do not need financial support but just someone to listen to them , to reassure them and let them know that they are not alone , someone to put a smile on their face on a bleak day, someone to urge them to continue fighting for a better tomorrow and demanding justice .In addition , more needs to be done in providing infrastructure to project survivors of violence such as safe houses, this is because you do not expect an abused mother or girl to go back to the same abusive household after reporting a case. It is as important to acknowledge the costs of violence meted on women and gristle lost dreams, the health cost and the psychological impact. Violence during a pandemic denies women and girls fundamental human rights including liberty, bodily integrity and dignity of person. Women and girl’s survivors of violence whether the violence occurred during the pandemic or before the onset of the pandemic results into long lasting feeling of low self-worth and insecurity. We need to reach out whenever we are to ensure that we provide the much needed care and support to each other during this time of uncertainty. We need to cultivate a sense of Ubuntu[6] in these difficult times.

References 

[1] https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-strengthe...

[2] https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/04/08/tackling-kenyas-domestic-violence-am...

[3] https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/bd/data-hub/agony-as-half-of-lawsuit...

[4] https://www.africanews.com/2021/03/26/kenya-imposes-new-lockdown-what-ar...

[5] ibid

[6] Ubuntu is a Zulu word meaning oneness and humanity. I am because we are.