Effects of corona virus on women

[ByGrabtharsHammerWhatASavings]

Just thinking about the ways the virus and measures taken to combat it will effect women. The first thing that come to mind is that if children need time off school/ elderly people need caring for, it'll disproportionatly be women providing that care and probably taking time off work to do it. The second things is the way isolation and domestic abuse will correlate. Women in violent and abusive relationships will be trapped at home with their abuser in an increasingly tense claustrophobic environment. No chance of even escaping to a friends or him going for a walk to calm down. I can imagine that a lot of women will experience their first episode of violence if a long lockdown is initiated. It's also a controlling abusers dream situation. I have a friend whose husband is extremely controlling and does anything he can to limit and control her movements. He's basically got her imprisoned inside atm and won't let her go out til CV is over - for her own safety, of course . Shockingly there's no need for him to self isolate yet, but her and their kid absolutely must be in the house 24/7. It's like all his Christmases have come at once. It's the perfect excuse for abusers to isolate their partners from friends, family, maybe even a way to force them to give up work. And worst of all I don't even know if these effects can be mitigated.

Just enraged myself by reading a thread where the OP is an essential worker and her twat ex has said he doesn't want their kid still going to school so is suggesting he look after them while she's at work... On the condition that she pay him the same as she'd pay a regular childminder! Apparently he's FT employed on a good salary! I mean my mind is just blown by the selfish lazy greedy hatefulness of some men, and every single one of them seems to be using this crisis as a chance to crawl out from their rocks and be the biggest shits that they can be.

Maybe the midnight misogynist should stop spamming us with his "99% of women want to make me a sandwich, discuss" twattery, and come read this thread for "why we still need feminism, 101".

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.

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.

@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?

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.

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.

Isn't it funny how for years women have been told that we just get paid less because we choose jobs that are easier/fewer hours/less important etc. I mean, it's only good sense that a care worker should make less than a CEO, right? Yet when crisis hits who are the people most likely to be essential key workers? Which jobs are the most indespensible? Which kind of work is the country literally incapable of limping on without? When this is all over I hope there are some very serious conversations about what kind of pay this work should command. But there probably won't be.

Just to add for positive balance that my dp is also "stepping up" (to the extent that stepping up means continuing to act like a decent human being). No pissing off with mates and dragging germs home from the pub, not acting like a cunt, does a fair amount of cleaning, cooking, and childcare etc. 99% of the mental load is still on me in terms of securing resources and planning ahead, but he's very good at practical stuff. He's great at changing nappies and washing dishes, just not the "thinking 12 chess moves ahead, 30 plates in the air at once" kind of thinking that's needed right now. But that aside we make a good team and I'm glad of his support.

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

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

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

@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.

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

Nurses, carers, cleaners, sahp are mostly women.

Nurses, carers, cleaners, sahp are mostly women

At the levels above junior doctors the staff will be men. Famers, food producers, delivery drivers, engineers, are overwhelmingly male.

The people who are being expected to unblock the sewage system because it has been blocked up by fuckwits putting non-flushable paper down will be men.

I'm really getting rather annoyed by the frankly silly competitiveness and "women up-manship" going on here.

The Fawcett Society arent setting themselves up well for useable data
We would like to hear from both women and non-binary people. 🤦🏻‍♀️

We would like to hear from both women and non-binary people

Oh I didn't see that. Yawn.

I definitely feel I’m doing all the worrying and DH is carrying on as normal. He doesn’t “plan” the way I do eg I’m always thinking Eg “right this food is going out of date make sure DD eats it” or “how to occupy DD as no school”.
We are both emergency workers but if I’m off I’ll keep her at home.

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

I haven't heard one peep of complaint from the single men at work while they expand their workloads to allow women (and men) with families to work from home. Usually, they grumble about everything.

We would like to hear from both women and non-binary people.

It's looking more and more risible.

How are you going to collate the answers to a survey asking all about women's responsibilities if it can include men under 'non-binary people'?

I'm really getting rather annoyed by the frankly silly competitiveness and "women up-manship" going on here.

Surely you mean one up womanship, dido?

I would try not to get annoyed. Otherwise you might be getting annoyed a lot.

@definitelygc I agree but I even think it's a case not only of "couldn't" I think they out and out won't look after them. Leaving the key worker in question in an impossible position.

b) those children who are going to school are going to find themselves significantly academically ahead

It’s been made quite clear that no teaching will be happening in schools, it is childcare only, and staffing will be minimum to provide safety.

There will be no teaching.

In fact i’d suggest the reverse- those kids at home will be able to crack on with google classroom- work will be set by those teachers working from home, not in school childminding.

It’s funny though- everyone i know taking advantage of keyworker places are doing so because their husbands or male partners are working from home and can’t look after the children at the same time. All the women i know wfh are having the children instead.

I have told mine i am not doing housework while they are at home all day and i am at work. To the point i will move into staff accommodation and leave them to it.

It’s funny though- everyone i know taking advantage of keyworker places are doing so because their husbands or male partners are working from home and can’t look after the children at the same time. All the women i know wfh are having the children instead.

Yes I know a fair few in this situation too. Although it's not always the fact that the man 'won't' do it that is the issue - In one case it's that he has a job paying approx 5x that of his wife (a nurse) and so their mortgage and most of their bills are paid by his job and they're naturally very concerned that there is a risk if he is trying to homeschool / look after children at the same time as 'working' then he'd lose his job and get fired (he's in a competitive industry).

My school sent a letter around saying that if you were a keyworker you were eligible for a place but if there was another adult who could WFH to consider keeping children at home for everyone's safety (social distancing) which seemed a good way to put it.

But it not only depends on who's staying home but relative incomes as well.

It's always been my opinion that nurses are paid very shoddily and I really think they should be getting a pay rise in this situation. All fof the nurses I know are very much the second earner in their relationships - so if anyone was going to give up work to take care of kids (for whatever reason) it would be them because they couldn't afford the financial hit of losing the higher salary.

Surely you mean one up womanship,dido?

Whatever Datun- it's still tedious. We are all stuck with this. Bigging up one role utterly seems pointless.