Emerging evidence suggests that COVID-19 is having significant impacts on women’s mental health, and that this is compounding existing mental health inequalities between women and men. COVID-19 has drawn attention to the need for fundamental reform of Australia's social support and mental health systems to ensure they effectively meet the needs of women and girls, and are resilient to respond to future emergencies, which – like COVID-19 – are likely to disproportionately impact women’s mental health. 

This policy brief summarises the evidence for the impact of COVID-19 on women's mental health, and makes recommendations for government actions to better support women’s mental health during the COVID-19 response and recovery.