Erin, O., Shoroq, A., Jennifer, S., Benjamin, A., Joan, H., Nicola, J., Agnieszka, M., Workneh, Y., Bassam, A. H., & Sarah, B. (n.d.). COVID-19 and gendered impacts on adolescent wellbeing: evidence from a cross-sectional study of locally adapted measures in Ethiopia, Jordan, and Palestine, eClinicalMedicine, 52, 101–586.
This study explores relationships between gender, COVID-19 vulnerability, social protection, and adolescent wellbeing in three diverse contexts: Ethiopia, Jordan, and Palestine. With a total sample size of n = 5752, the study employs quantitative phone surveys with adolescents to gather data on household-level vulnerability to COVID-19-related shocks, household-level social protection (cash transfers or food aid), and locally customised outcome measures intended to capture the gendered effects of COVID-19. Using multivariate regressions, Erin et al. investigate the associations between each outcome and household-level COVID-19 vulnerability and social protection and their interaction while accounting for adolescent and household characteristics.
Before conducting this study, Erin et al. looked at earlier research and discovered that many adolescents have increased the amount of time they spend at home caring for their families and that doing so is linked to poor mental health outcomes. Using locally adapted survey measures, Erin et al. examine measures of adolescent wellbeing, such as resilient coping, gendered constraints on behaviour, and time use, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ethiopia, Jordan, and Palestine. They find significantly lower levels of resilient coping and significantly higher levels of time spent on household duties for adolescents (boys and girls), while girls in more vulnerable households spend more time on agriculture and paid work and experience more gendered behavioural restrictions.
According to the study, adolescent girls are much more likely than boys to put in a significant amount of time at work each day, which is 4 hours or more. Adolescent boys are more likely to be involved in the labour force, and household duties like gathering firewood and water, cooking, and cleaning are performed in addition to paid work and agricultural activities for women, which adds to their workload. This is particularly true for girls who live in low-income, rural households. They also look at the current aid provided to Ethiopia through the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP), which aims to increase household food security. They discover that the COVID-19 pandemic’s vulnerability has consistent, detrimental effects on a number of aspects of adolescent well-being and that social safety nets are intended to lessen the financial burden of crises.
The findings emphasise the need to pay special attention to those who are most vulnerable, with a focus on social protection that is age- and gender-responsive as an important policy tool for ensuring an equitable post-pandemic recovery for both adolescent boys and girls. The study specifically contends that greater economic support is necessary for the most vulnerable in order to strengthen resilient coping. In addition, the study suggests the need for additional social protection measures to address economic and social vulnerabilities because existing ones are still insufficient to challenge oppressive gender norms, particularly those that surround girls’ time use.