Effects of corona virus on women

Sorry I didn't realise that the medical profession was a female domain.... Hang on....

@Saucy99 I think if you read all of the posts you will see it is far more than a mental load. But talk to the NHS nurses or indeed the nurses in Italy and take your silly point about the mental load to them.

And as it is a feminist board please take you “what about the poor men” off to Reddit or some other male dominated entity.

Surprised noone has mentioned the fact that 70% of the dead are men.
But sure, the 'mental load' must be awful for women.

@definitelygc this was my feeling when I first heard it and nothing since then has changed my mind.

The Fawcett Society is asking for women to share information about how coronavirus is affecting their lives. They're particularly looking for responses from you if you:

• are caring for family members
• have primary school-age children
• are pregnant or on maternity leave
• are living with a disability
• are self-isolating due to pre-existing health reasons
• are working in the NHS
• are on zero-hour or temporary contracts
• have been made redundant
• are relying on food banks

Link is here: www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/C19Fawcett

I know NAMALT etc. but I really need to hear some stories of men stepping up because I personally don't know any.

Think you've come to the wrong place.

I know NAMALT etc. but I really need to hear some stories of men stepping up because I personally don't know any.

My partner is wfh, I am self employed and unable to do my job so am now on childcare. He cooked for us all in his lunch break, didn't complain about the constant loud kid interruptions, and left a virtual meeting to attend an incident with an aged relative. It's definitely possible for men to be good at caring.

@definitelygc - I've been thinking about this a LOT today. Our school has a high proportion of families where at least one member is NHS or other key workers (I have theories about why this is but that's irrelevant right now). Based solely on the very unscientific polling via WhatsApp class groups, I'd estimate that approximately 30-40% are going to be trying to continue sending their children to school. But.... in most cases, it's women. And I have to ask... where are their husbands? It's weird how proportionately, women seem to be able to organise to WFH and yet so many men can't? (If I have to read one more thread where the woman is doing exactly that but can't get help from her DH because he still HAS to go in 9-5....).

So at this point, almost half of DC's friends will be at school which not only defeats the whole social distancing thing will negatively impact the rest of the children as a) the teachers (who aren't sick/at home) will be too busy teaching in classrooms to provide any kind of online/virtual/email support and b) those children who are going to school are going to find themselves significantly academically ahead.

I'm feeling so very cross about this. Supporting our key workers has suddenly become yet another way for men to abdicate responsibilities. How the actual fuck did this happen?

Does anyone else think the reason it's a "if one parent is a key worker" rule is because so many key workers are women and so many of them have useless partners who couldn't look after the kids all day? Perhaps I'm wrong but I feel pretty sure that if the key workers were all male then mothers would be told they need to stay at home and keep the kids out of school.

www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/our-work/news/human-rights-and-equality-considerations-responding-coronavirus-pandemic

EHRC have mentioned women and girls in a few places when writing to the government though they mention ‘those who care for loved ones’ without acknowledging that many of them will be women.

Oh I found you my friends. All
If these thoughts crossed my mind this morning as I went for a quick run to prepare my head for a day of homeschooling, cleaning, cooking, shopping, volunteering, minding DH’s mental health, sending work emails, Minding DC’s mental health - thank God you guys are here. Let’s mind each other’s mental health.

PaleBlueMoonlight

There is a group called Abortion Support Network and the help women from countries who have no access to abortion.
They can help pay for flights, pay for the abortion and find accommodation.

If a woman in say Poland needs an abortion how is she going to get to the UK, Poland have restricted flights for people travelling in or out.
How ,even if she could get a flight, can she leave if she is supposed to be self isolating at home or is supposed to self isolate on entry to another country.

Yes, in amongst sorting out everyone else's shit, can you make yourself presentable, you slattern. Make an effort, you can call it self care if you want.

oooh, allow yourself 5 mins for a break, wash your hair, put on make-up and to pamper yourself

Translated as don’t forget to still subscribe to society’s expectations for your gender while dealing with a global pandemic...

Putting in make up and washing my hair is not “pampering myself”. It’s two more fucking things I’m expected to do while trying to keep on top of everything else.

What's grinding my gears at the moment, and I'm seeing a lot more of it atm, are FB and Instagram posts along the lines of 'oooh, allow yourself 5 mins for a break, wash your hair, put on make-up and to pamper yourself whilst you're running round like a blue arsed fly sorting everyone's shit out'.

Wow, a whole 5 mins, you spoil me...

Yes, single parent families (of which 90% are women-led) are going to struggle the most. DS's best friend is one of 3. His mum is a single mum with almost zero support from the ex (and I guarantee he will be the one cutting maintenance, what little he pays, by this week). Her job is not "key worker" so she's not going to get any childcare support. I suspect she'll stop getting paid shortly. Who is looking out for her and the many many other single mothers out there?

I’m worried in the medium term that eg government consultations that affect women will just carry on while we are really fucking busy trying to keep things afloat due to COVID. That when we come out of this, there will be things that went under the radar that are negative for women because we were too busy to respond, organise or lobby and while the media is only interested (understandably) about reporting on one thing.

I was thinking today about how a pandemic is so different from other crises. I know loads of men who would love to think of themselves as being the first ones to step up in a time of need. They'd be straight out there pulling people out of rubble and carrying supplies. But as soon as the work that needs doing is "women's work" they just shrug and walk away. And that's the work that needs doing right now. Sorting out how kids are going to get an education with 6 months off school, getting paracetamol for Mrs Figg down the road who can't go out, making sure everything is clean and sanitised, figuring out how to feed a family with no cereal/milk/bread. I know we all saw it coming but women are doing all the heavy lifting right now.

COVID-19: the gendered impacts of the outbreak - article in the Lancet www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30526-2/fulltext

Langbannedforsafeguardingkids

I cant find the link at the moment but it was a report about how in situations of virus outbreaks deaths from medical conditions that would normally be treated rise (because they are de-prioritised).

This is why some people suggested the isolating of over 70s was put in place, not just because they are (if the have underlying issues) more susceptible, but that if there is an increase in deaths at home from age related diseases this will not be noticed because the government will be trumpeting how they kept the number of deaths from the virus in older people down.

There's a report today on older people being demonised particularly if they are women and / or from a BAME community. www.theguardian.com/society/2020/mar/19/older-people-widely-demonised-uk-ageism-report

ie "acceptable collateral damage" because of lack on capacity in the NHS it has no reserves in an emergency, so effectively rationing has to happen. (In many health areas this already happens with for instance cataract and other such operations no longer being routine)

I'm guessing a lot of single mothers are about to have maintenance payments stopped soon, just waiting for the call. My work have kindly offered me unpaid time off though so as long as I can live on fresh air for the next few months I'll be good