The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Egyptian Women Psychological Empowerment and Work-Life Balance

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to examine the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Egyptian Women Psychological Empowerment and Work-Life Balance. The study was conducted on (107) Egyptian working women in different sectors and located in the Greater Cairo region. An online survey link was sent directly to these respondents to answer. They were selected using the non-probability judgmental sampling method; the only criterion for inclusion was that these respondents were working women operating in the Egyptian business context. Research hypotheses were tested using correlation and multiple regression analysis. After testing the effect of Egyptian working women’s psychological empowerment dimensions on the perceived work-life balance, it was concluded that competence and self-determination dimensions were the two main psychological empowerment dimensions that positively affected the perceived work life balance. The other three dimensions: meaning, impact, and trust dimensions, had an insignificant effect on the perceived work-life balance. This research will help in designing a practical roadmap showing how to empower women psychologically while preserving their well-being and balancing their work-life duties and responsibilities. In addition to implementing work-life strategies and HR policies that will support working women in Egypt. Most of the studies have tackled the positive benefits of women empowerment and ignored its consequences on women’s emotional and psychological well-being. Besides, few researches have been empirically administered on working women’s psychological empowerment especially in Egypt.