Does being a female employee in Mongolia increases the chance of depression in Mongolia? The simple answer is yes. According to the study “Anxiety, depression, and brain overwork in the general population of Mongolia” indicates that in Mongolia’s younger generation are more prone to anxiety and stress. The study found strong correlation between the age and employment status with stress. Particularly, young women are found to be more prone to stress and anxiety. Another study conducted by the Asian Development Bank found that female employees spend three times more on childcare duties and household works compared to male counterparts. The National University of Mongolia’s study confirmed this finding as they have also discovered that educated women spent more time on unpaid care duties compared to the women with no education or primary education. Study on “Job Tenure and Mental Health in the Mongolian Workplace” also revealed that while blue-collar men’s depression was 27%, women’s were significantly high at 41%.
All these numbers are telling us that female employees, particularly those in their childbearing age of 20-39 are prone to depression, as they carry out unpaid care work aside their full-time work. To address this issue, Vision 2050, the long-term development policy approved by the Mongolian parliament, promises an improved work–life balance through the introduction of more flexible working hours for working parents. Plus, Vision 2050 aims to increase the number and accessibility of kindergartens and other social services.
This is a correct measure, if it can be fully implemented on the ground as the study shows that offering free public childcare increases mothers’ employment by 4.5 percentage points in Mongolia.
“Moreover, international studies show that childcare and flexible hours for parents with young children are associated with reduced parental stress, absenteeism, and staff turnover, as well as increased staff satisfaction and commitment”.
The Save the Children and UNICEF Mongolia promotes Child Rights and Business Principles. The Principle encourages for creating a child and family friendly workplaces around the globe. The first private sector representative that set an example to other private companies in Mongolia was the TESO Corporation. It is the verified and one of top members of the Lambda Global, with an average of eight vacancy advertisements per month. The advantage of Lambda Global is that it verifies the employers’ information including the benefits. If you go to the profile of the TESO Corporation, you can find in the benefits section, that they offer a free kindergarten to the employee’s children. Actually, the kindergarten “Zuv bagachuud” is actively operating since 2019.
According to TESO, “over 60 per cent of its employees have children aged from 2 to 5 years. The Corporation demonstrated that having an on-site kindergarten played a significant role in increasing employees’ satisfaction by 9 percent and decreasing staff turnover year after year”.
What an achievement! This is the real action not only to prevent female employee’s stress and anxiety, but taking a huge burden of doing the unpaid care work. It also affects the female labor force participation rate. As studies revealed, majority of working age female in Mongolia are staying at home and undertaking an unpaid care work. This negatively affects the women’s career at the individual level and country’s economic growth at the macro level.
Therefore, all the organizations, especially the big ones are encouraged to take the initiative and create a family friendly work place.
References:
1. Anxiety, depression, and brain overwork in the general population of Mongolia, Battuvshin.L et al,2024.
2. Impact of Gender inequality on long-term economic growth in Mongolia, the Asian Development Bank, 2022.
3. Job Tenure and Mental Health in the Mongolian Workplace, Ach Medical University and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University of Taiwan, 2024.
4. Mapping the Care system in Mongolia, What do we know?, the National University of Mongolia, 2025.
5. Mongolia’s companies to invest in on-site kindergartens UNICEF promotes the development of child-friendly workplaces, UNICEF,2022.
6. Navigating Labor Market Challenges with a Focus on Youth and Women’s Employment: labor Supply Analysis for Mongolia, the World Bank, 2024.
