New research reveals the shocking cost to women of the pandemic

The Covid pandemic has proved a tipping point for middle-aged and older women, with a shock number draining their retirement savings and super just to stay afloat.

Australian women are experiencing mental distress in record numbers, with gender inequity linked to financial stress skyrocketing over two decades.

A shocking one in five women are suffering high levels of mental distress following the Covid pandemic, that saw them lose work, shoulder greater domestic burdens and sap vital retirement savings.

Women accounted for 80 per cent of superannuation withdrawals over the last two years of the pandemic, with reduced household income and cost of living increases among major stressors, new Monash University research reveals.

The pandemic “exacerbated” an alarming 20 year trend, that saw the number of Australian women aged 55 to 64, young women and those on low incomes suffering mental distress linked to financial insecurity almost double.

Monash head of mental health epidemiology Dr Joanne Enticott said separate research conducted among Victorian women aged 18 to 40 in October 2020, showed high levels of psychological distress was being experienced by an”incredibly high” 40 per cent.

The research showed the pandemic had fuelled deepening problems of gender inequity in Australia, with our country now ranked 50th on the World Economic Forum gender gap index, despite having one of the most educated female populations on the planet, Dr Enticott said.

“Financial economic security for Australian women is at an all-time low, and women and their

families continue to be relatively disadvantaged. There is an urgent need for a bold new agenda that delivers broader co-operation to improve financial insecurity and optimise mental and physical health,” she said.

Dr Enticott said the Monash research analysed national surveys over the last two decades, and combined the results to look at levels of psychological distress, particularly associated with financial insecurity.

“What was quite striking to see was that women aged 55 to 64 went from the lowest group that experienced mental distress, up to just as high as young women, within a relatively short span of time,” she said.

“We’ve (also) looked at the early release of the Australian Bureau of Statistics survey from last year, and with Covid, it looks like the prevalence has increased even more.”

Director of the Monash Centre for Research Health and Implementation (MCHRI) Professor Helena Teede, said one of the biggest factors associated with the rise in mental distress for women was reduced household income and increased cost of living.

It comes as the Victorian head of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Anita Munoz, said anxiety was now the most prevalent mental health condition.

Cost of living, housing affordability and lack of job security were contributing towards anxiety for Victorians of all ages, including the young, she said.

“They’re facing some really serious themes that (are) probably more intense this generation than ever before. Particularly when it comes to securing their own futures financially . . . getting secure jobs, the cost of education and the rising cost of living; that makes life very, very difficult,” Dr Munoz said.

Prof Teede said gender inequality was “a major challenge” in Australia, with serious health and wellbeing impacts for women.

“There have been attempted strategies to improve women’s economic security that has not yet

delivered for women. With financial insecurity the primary determinant of health, if society does not fix this problem, many Australian women face unprecedented physical and mental health challenges,” she said.

Monash University was now working with the Federal Government to establish a national institute to support women of all ages in helping address issues of mental distress due to financial insecurity.