Women's Mental Health in the Post-Covid-19 Pandemic: An analysis of the situation

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic produced impacts that extended beyond the health emergency, affecting various dimensions of social life and contributing to the worsening of psychological distress. Among women, these effects intersected with historically established conditions of gender inequality regarding work, caregiving, family relations, income, and access to services. This article aims to analyze the state of women's mental health in the post-Covid-19 pandemic period using the categories proposed by Herbert José de Souza: events, scenarios, actors, power relations, and the interplay between structure and conjuncture. It is a qualitative, original study based on a review of literature and documents concerning mental health, gender, the pandemic's impacts, public policies, and care practices. The analysis indicates that the pandemic did not create the inequalities shaping the female experience but rather acted upon pre-existing structures, reorganizing social relations and intensifying situations of overburden and vulnerability. The study concludes that understanding women's mental health in the post-pandemic era requires linking psychological distress to the social, economic, and institutional conditions in which it manifests.