More than half of women say wellbeing damaged by home-schooling

MORE than half of women who home-schooled children during the UK’s last lockdown say their mental health and wellbeing, according to new research suggests classroom closures took an uneven toll on parents depending on gender.

Surveys by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found 53 per cent of female parens felt classroom closures were taking their toll on their wellbeing, compared to 45 per cent of men polled in late January and early February.

The findings reveal a sharp rise from the one in three women who said the government’s decision to shut schools to contain the spread of coronavirus was damaging their wellbeing last spring when one in five men reported the same.

Researchers found women spent 55 per cent more time than men on unpaid childcare during the first national lockdown but this figure had surged to 99 per cent in September and October last year.

The ONS also said men and women had experienced “significantly different levels of anxiety, loneliness and worry about the coronavirus, and depressive symptoms”.