Journal 4

 

Question: During the COVID-19 Pandemic men are doing more at home, in most households the division of housework and childcare has become more equal.

• How do you view this statement?

    I disagree with the statement as women actually do more domestic chores and childcare during COVID-19 pandemic. This is because no one expected the virus will conquer the world and people are required to stay longer at home. Hence, men might find no reason at first to be prepared early to do house chores as well as childcare. Therefore, when they are not mentally ready, women end up do even more work instead during the pandemic. According to Sandrine and Amelia (2020) statement, “during lockdown, Teni and her husband have both been working from home, but their days look very different. The husband works from 9.30am to around 5-6.30pm, and Teni do feel like he has the luxury of going into a room and can concentrate on his work, but she does not have that luxury, she says, "I do feel it's a bit unfair." Moreover, at home, Teni says she does around 80% of the unpaid work which includes home-schooling her three-year-old daughter.” This situation indicates how housework in a household is not equally divided as men tend to let their spouse do more domestic chores and childcare during lockdown even though they spend more time to be at home.

   Next, the division might be equally, but not every housework. For instance, some men preferred to take care of their children and not doing the house chores as they find it hard and exhausting. Research by Daniela et al. (2020) shows that most of the additional housework and childcare associated to COVID-19 falls on women while childcare activities are more equally shared within the couple than housework activities. Sometimes, men realized they have the responsibility to take care of their children, but not in doing housework. Besides, preliminary evidence from (Farré et al. 2020) and (Sevilla and Smith 2020) shows that there has been a shift towards a more equal distribution of household and childcare between men and women, but most of the extra work caused by the crisis has fallen on women. I believe if gender equality is not practiced in a household, this situation would not happen.

   Lastly, from now on we should not normalize gender equality especially in a household. Besides, even if we are not in pandemic, women should not do all the domestic chores and childcare alone because all of that are spouses responsibilities. Both men and women should play their part and understanding each other well to maintain a healthy relationship. Moreover, it is a right thing to do as well as be a good example to youngsters in order to create our future generation.

References

Butterly, B. S. L. A. A. (2020, November 26). Coronavirus and gender: More chores for women set back gains in equality. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-55016842

del Boca, D., Oggero, N., Profeta, P., & Rossi, M. (2020). Women’s and men’s work, housework and childcare, before and during COVID-19. Review of Economics of the Household, 18(4), 1001–1017. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11150-020-09502-1

Farré, L., Fawaz, Y., González, L., & Gaves, J. (2020). How the COVID-19 Lockdown Affected Gender Inequality in Paid and Unpaid Work in Spain. IZA Discussion Paper No. 13434.

Sevilla, A., & Smith, S. (2020). Baby steps: the gender division of childcare after COVID19. CEPR Discussion Paper No. 14804.