Spousal support and work performance during the COVID-19 pandemic among elected women representatives in rural Bihar, India: A cross-sectional, mixed-methods study

BACKGROUND: This study examines family support for professional work and domestic labour among Elected Women Representatives' (EWR) in rural Bihar, India, and associations of this support with EWRs’ professional performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional, mixed-method study, surveying 1338 EWRs and conducting in-depth interviews with 31 EWRs (Oct 14- Nov 6, 2020). Purposive sampling was used to select the participants. Our team has been working for more than a decade with EWRs across 10 districts in Bihar, providing them with capacity building and community interventions. All EWRs are part of our network, and around 2000 were reached out for the survey. Of these, 1338 consented to participate. Four survey participants from each district were randomly selected and invited for the in-depth interviews. Independent variables for our quantitative analysis included help from husband and other family members on a) EWR work and b) domestic work. Dependent variables, dichotomised as yes/no, assessed EWR workload, COVID-19 work, intervening on violence against women or child marriage, and belief EWRs can have impact. Separate multivariate logistic regression models assessed the hypothesised relationships. All models were adjusted for socio-demographic variables and indicators related to EWR's work experience and community perception or respect. FINDINGS: Most women (76%; n = 1016 EWRs) received help from their husbands with EWR work while 39% reported husband help with domestic labour. Receipt of help from husband with domestic work was associated with increase in official work since the pandemic (aOR: 2.62; 95% CI: 1.84–3.71), arrangement of needed services during COVID-19 (aOR: 2.54; 95% CI:1.65–3.90), and self-belief regarding possibility of EWR impact (aOR: 3.49; 95% CI: 2.25–5.43). Husband's help with EWR work was related to increased odds for intervening to stop violence against women only (aOR: 2.18; 95% CI: 1.32–3.60). In-depth interviews with the selected 31 EWRs underscored an increase in their EWR work under COVID-19. The increase in EWR workload under the pandemic created time constrictions for EWR's domestic labour responsibilities, even as domestic labour responsibilities increased. INTERPRETATION: Our study highlights the importance of husband's help and support in strengthening EWRs outcomes at work in India, with help in domestic work being related to a relatively wider range of outcomes that are indicative of EWR's performance, compared to husband's help with EWR work. These findings emphasize the need for building male responsibility for domestic labour, to improve women's professional performance and outcomes. Our study has few key limitations such as lack of causal interpretations due to reliance on cross-sectional research design, potential for social desirability bias in self-reported data, and absence of information related to changes in patterns of spousal and family support received by the EWRs as a result of the pandemic. Nonetheless, our findings are important, particularly for the context of Bihar, India, where appalling gender gaps still persist in all social and economic aspects of society. FUNDING: 10.13039/100000865Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: 2017, OPP1179246 and EMERGE COVID-19 (2019, OPP1163682); 10.13039/100000008David & Lucile Packard Foundation: 2017- 66202.