Mental health in lockdown: Male founders 'more affected' than women
Posted: Wed 16th Dec 2020
More than half (51%) of male SME leaders say their mental health has been affected by running a business from home in lockdown, compared to just 32% of women in the same position.
Our new Female Founders report, published in conjunction with Opinium as part of our She's Got This campaign, shows that women bosses have been less affected by lockdown-induced mental health issues than their male counterparts.
This is in spite of other studies highlighting the fact that women are under more pressure than men to carry the emotional brunt of the pandemic. Indeed, our own report also found that it has had a disproportionate impact on women business leaders, especially when it comes to childcare.
What, then, is behind the finding?
"It could be that female leaders are more used to adapting to the difficult circumstances they find themselves in and have seen the move to remote ways of running a business as a practical solution they can run with," said Enterprise Nation founder Emma Jones.
"Women are natural pivoters. They are resilient. While in general they are still shouldering the bulk of childcare and increased home-based responsibilities like cooking and food shopping, it seems they are more likely to have taken all this in their stride, rather than allowing it to interfere with their mental health."
The Female Founders report also discovered that, while the pandemic has largely normalised remote working for both women and men, women are slightly readier in accepting this 'new normal'. Half of women SME owners also think it could equalise business opportunities across both genders.
These findings are being discussed further in our Women in Business Group. Join it today to be part of the conversation.
The survey, which was supported by T__SB, UPS, O2 Business and Xero, was undertaken by strategic insights firm Opinium between December 3 and December 9 2020. It reached out to 500+ senior business leaders and founders. You can read the findings in full here.