The socio-economic effect of COVID-19 pandemic on female employees in the Banking Sector

Abstract

The banking business was among the most severely affected economic COVID-19sectors by the recent Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic, which is considered among the major global health threats in recent history. The pandemic and its associated preventive measures forced the banking sector to adopt new standard operating procedures. These presented several challenges in the social, psychological and economic aspects of employees more so among the female employees. The COVID-19 pandemic affected people in different sectors in several ways, and several studies have highlighted how different sectors of interest have been affected. Not many have taken an interest in assessing the impact that COVID-19COVID- 19had on female banking employees, the challenges they faced as with the new operating guidelines brought about by COVID-19 preventive measures and how they coped with these challenges The study aimed at assessing the social, economic impact of COVID-19 among female bank employees and examining the social-economic challenges faced by these women and how they coped with them. A structured questionnaire was administered to 130 female bank employees within Kampala who were identified and selected to participate in the study. Purposive sampling was used to select study participants. Statistical package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the data. The study findings revealed that COVID-19, with its associated preventive measures, greatly impacted the socioeconomic well-being of female bank employees. It revealed that several female employees lost their jobs, and others had reduced incomes. The findings also revealed that these women had to deal with the pressures from working from home in a way that they had to maintain productivity at work while meeting their domestic obligations. Furthermore, the findings revealed that did not majority female bank employees did not receive adequate support from their banking institutions to cope with these socioeconomic effects; many relied on their spouses and other family members to cope during the pandemic. The study recommends that banking institutions should design safety nets to respond to the socioeconomic needs of female employees for future pandemics like COVID-19