Lockdown Might lead to stress: working Women

►Omi Gurung 

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose when an infected person coughs or sneezes. The most common symptoms are fever of 103 or more than 104 degree, cough, shortness of breath, and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, and even death. The period within which the symptoms would appear is 2-14 days. This disease was originated from Wuhan of China on 23 Dec 2019.

The new coronavirus is a respiratory virus which spreads primarily through droplets generated when an infected person coughs or sneezes, or through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose. To protect ourselves, we must clean our hands frequently with an alcohol-based hand rub or wash them with soap and water. When a disease is new, there is no vaccine until one is developed. It can take a number of years for a new vaccine to be developed, specialist says. People of all ages can be infected by the new coronavirus. Older people, and people with pre-existing medical conditions (such as asthma, diabetes, and heart disease) appear to be more vulnerable to becoming severely ill with the virus.

WHO advises people of all ages to take steps to protect themselves from the virus, for example by following good hand hygiene and good respiratory hygiene.

With a number of countries under lockdown following the COVID-19 pandemic, what has startlingly come to the fore across the world is the increase in incidences of domestic violence. In the context to Nepal, firstly lockdown has done for week likely after seeking the condition of Corona prevention government has extended the lockdown period, we are now in 36 days staying at home, domestic violence cases have increased with husbands venting out their frustration on wives, who have no escape from their abusers.

In households where women are breadwinners, the lockdown has led them not to work, and their salaries have not reached them. They face casteist and classist behavior from their employers who either do not pay them or pay them with a delay - that delay in accessing financial liquidity and resources also makes them targets for violence at the hands of their husbands.”
 

Women are most stressed than men during the lockdown period. Many working women found it especially difficult and stressful at the same time to be working from home as well as doing household chores and other activities without much support from their partners. This has resulted from the absence of any self-corrective measures to correct gender responsibilities. On the other hand, the few who have been able to share the load of household tasks, they have been able to maintain a pleasant environment in their daily lockdown period.
 

Women who are housemakers are facing a lot of challenges as their workload has increased due to lack of house help. "Men and children who used to go out for work and school respectively are at home most of the time, which also creates a demanding situation for women. Women’s are getting physically tired as she is keeping up with the demands of all the family members, constantly, that is about their food, cleaning the house, etc. She feels exhausted and stressed as the house is small and people are at home all the time, which is creating lack of emotional space as well. As per a recent study conducted by a Bengaluru-based sleep solutions startup, about 67 per cent of people in Nepal are suffering from sleep deprivation during the lockdown.

Women who are working, are being mentally frustrated as due to household work and professional commitment, she is not able to get appropriate sleep. Stress and anxiety levels have been high. This is also leading to arguments and fights between relationships.
 

Among the many memes that have popped up during the coronavirus lockdown, several relate to the division of labour at home. Some follow the tired narrative of the wife as the tyrannical villain who dumps chores on the husband. The joke is meant to be in the incongruity of the setting – a miserable man washing a sink full of dirty dishes rather than being in his natural habitat, in front of a laptop or at the workplace.

The lockdown situation has amplified such unpaid work for the working woman. For many professional women, ‘work from home’ means as many Zoom conferences and emails to attend to as the husband. But in addition, they need to ensure that children are gainfully occupied; complete cleaning chores in the absence of the domestic help who cannot enter the building; supply three meals and endless rounds of tea and snacks. In the background is the spectre of the coronavirus that requires checking if everyone is washing hands a thousand times. For those who live in cramped apartments or with elders suffering from chronic ailments or both, six weeks of this routine can seem like an eternity.

Smrithi, 35, and her husband, both jobholders have a toddler at home. “I am going crazy. It can’t get tougher than this!” she says while admitting that she does most of the work. But she points out that since her husband is not used to doing domestic tasks he is slow in executing them. “I can finish the same job in lesser time, so I would rather do it myself,” she says.

Gitika, 49, a teacher in Pepsicola with two teenagers at home, says she has not had any time to herself post lockdown. She attributes the disconnect that Nepal men and children have with housework to the constant availability of maids in middle class homes. Between maids and the mother, the kitchen and cleaning has always remained a woman’s domain.

In a recent videos, a popular figure on the social media app TikTok, urges men to share women’s work during this lockdown period and not strain them with constant demands.

Ironically, lower income women such as domestic maids find themselves with a lot more time though their stress is now the uncertain financial situation. Kabita Basnet, who is a cleaning lady in five homes in a high-class gated community used to rush through the day because her informal baby-sitting arrangement would stop at noon. Now she unwillingly acknowledges that she has time with her children but would rather get back to work since money has totally dried up.

With the lockdown the ‘me-time’ component of a working mother’s daily schedule shrinks disturbing and threatens to affect her well-being, unless rescued by a more equal division of labour within the home. One meme wishes mates to understand that ‘work from home’ means “ghar bata Kaam” not “ghar ko kaam”. Women working from home would say that cuts both ways.