Women in developing countries like India faced increased rates of depression and anxiety as well as food insecurity during the Covid-19 induced lockdown, according to researchers including those of Indian origin.

For surveyed women, moving from zero to average levels of lockdowns is associated with a 38 percent increase in depression, a 44 percent increase in anxiety and a 73 percent increase in exhaustion, according to the  study from the University of California San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy.

“Women whose social position may make them more vulnerable – those with daughters and those living in female-headed households – experienced even larger declines in mental health as a result of lockdowns,” said the paper, to be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Economic Development.

At least,  1,545 households were surveyed over the phone in various rural regions throughout Northern India. The surveys took place in fall 2019, before the pandemic and in August 2020, near the height of the first Covid-19 wave in India.

Certain villages and districts had varying containment policies, which allowed the researchers to compare health outcomes of women who experienced lockdowns for several months to those who experienced zero levels of lockdowns.

The authors took many factors into consideration in their analysis including Covid cases, hospitalizations and deaths from the novel coronavirus.

 “Not having access to work and socialization outside the home can be very detrimental for women’s mental health in developing countries,” said study co-author Gaurav Khanna, assistant professor of economics at the School of Global Policy and Strategy.

The pandemic resulted in dramatic losses of income for women. In the survey, roughly 25 percent of households reduced the number of meals consumed, compared to a normal month. However, these declines primarily impacted women because in many cultures throughout the developing world, women’s food intake is the first to be limited when food is scarce,  Khanna added.

“As we found in our study, the consequences of lockdown policies are exacerbated for women. We hope policymakers in developing countries and beyond know what the implications are for these policies, especially for those in vulnerable positions because if there is another wave, communities could be faced with similar lockdowns.”