As the ongoing pandemic rages on globally and brings economies, cultures, and governments to their knees, the collective approach towards tackling it has seen a gendered approach - and rightly so. The changes being discerned during this historic time are bound to impact the threads of the social fabric of the nation.
The decision of the government of India of extending assistance to women Jan Dhan account holders with direct cash benefit transfers, encouraging credit-lending to self help groups in rural areas, and some state governments leading the distribution of period products in their districts through community collectives are a few of the many ways in which our country is pooling in its resources to help the women and girls of the last mile.
However, while on the one hand we find women and men sharing the same plane in dealing with household chores, working from home, and other responsibilities - more so in semi-urban and urban regions, on the other hand, we have already been dealing with another pandemic; one which is not talked about much—violence against women and girls, which has a strike rate of 1 in 3 women. Beyond gender-based violence as well, health emergencies are typically seen as gender-neutral, however the response towards them should prioritise women. During the 2014–16 West African outbreak of the Ebola virus, it was observed that women were more likely to be infected by the virus, as they played prominent roles as caregivers within their families, and as frontline healthcare workers (WHO). Women were also affected when resources for reproductive and sexual health were diverted to the emergency response. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in a brief titled ‘COVID-19: A gender lens’ stated, “The provision of family planning and other sexual health commodities including menstrual health items may be impacted as supply chains undergo strains from the pandemic.” Since 67% of the world’s healthcare providers are women (IntraHealth), they are bound to be at the battle lines of the crises.
Contrary to the evident notion of men being further involved in tasks at home and taking on the conventional gender roles defined for women, within families, there are bound to be disparities. When family members are in isolation, women are more likely to act as caregivers. When children are staying home from school as well as after-school activities, women are more likely to be expected to keep them involved and occupied. On average, women did three times the amount of unpaid care work at home as compared to men (ILO), even before the COVID-19 pandemic, now they would be involved in more that one of childcare, eldercare, household chores, work-related and other miscellaneous activities.
Through these dark clouds, a few silver linings have emerged as well.
A few parts of the world saw a manifold rise in teleconferencing in March as compared to February, most workspaces have been shifting norms to digital means of communication, which can be potentially beneficial for women. The changes in business culture and work flexibility will enable women to manage their conventional roles as homemakers better.
Moreover, since more women are healthcare providers, their partners who might be working from home, could play an enhanced role in taking care of their household. Keeping this in view, countries such as Sweden and Germany have also found that introducing paternity leave increased the level of involvement of fathers in their children’s care for years afterward. Similarly, stimuli like the one being offered by the pandemic at the moment, have the capacity of ushering-in alternate gender roles for both men and women.
Historically, crises have been instrumental in bringing about societal changes - be it women taking up jobs in factories when men had to fight during the second World War or the increasing number of women breadwinners post the Great Recession. However, during the current pandemic, the shift towards more equitable caregiving wouldn’t come as a systemic or natural change, albeit it will need an intentional push to come about.
‘Hard resets’, divided chore responsibilities for the week, work schedule balancing for the week, taking time out for ‘family time’, ‘me time’, and mental health are the needs of the hour - as is said: invisible threads are the strongest ties.
Author-
Bhavya Pandey
Bhavya Pandey is a student of Economics at the University of Delhi. A voracious reader and declamatory writer, she has grown up exploring and opinionating on a plethora of subjects ranging from environment
to economics. She is a trained Indian classical dancer in Kuchipudi, and has been performing for more than a decade. You can reach out to her for endless conversations about the internet and food.
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