**6. Conclusions and Implications**

The study concluded that the experiences of the four women study participants during the pandemic reflected the superordinate themes of: (1) a deep sense of loss of "the normal"; (2) psychological stress and reboot and seeing the world with new eyes; (3) emerging women's community and connection; and (4) redefining the world of work for women. Recognizing that the 9 to 5 work world has been remodeled to a certain extent, the participants recommended more flexible work arrangements and more support by employers and society for life realities as essential elements of the postpandemic workplace.

Overall, it can be concluded from this study, as well as other studies and surveys conducted of women during the pandemic, that women experienced increased care responsibilities, increased stress, and even burnout during the pandemic, but that they also discovered their resilience and ability to navigate the challenges they faced, how to increasingly rely on a community of women with similar challenges, and their own leadership abilities. The implications of the findings are that employers need to provide more flexible workplaces, more health-promoting services, and increased recognition of the leadership abilities of women. More research should be conducted on the role of women's community and on women's self-leadership.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Institutional Review Board (or Ethics Committee) of University of Winchester for studies in-volving humans.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

**Data Availability Statement:** Data is unavailable due to privacy considerations.

**Acknowledgments:** The author would like to acknowledge her research cohort that was formed following the International Leadership Association Women and Leadership Community's Research Colloquium in June 2021. Together we decided to study the impact of COVID-19 on women's work-life balance. The author would especially like to thank Kim Bradley-Cole, Senior Lecturer and Chartered Occupational Psychologist, Department of Psychology, University of Winchester for introducing the cohort to Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. The author would like to thank other members of the cohort for our collaboration, including Tina Wu, Patrice Torcivia, Atim George, Bethany Huxford Davis, and Corlisha Mitchell.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The author declares no conflict of interest.
