Covid is not a feminist

[hungrywalrus]

Well that’s obviously not meant literally as it’s a virus.

But what I mean is that this has a serious potential for sending women back to the 1950s. No childcare or no reliable childcare will massively impact our ability to work. And what is there to prevent companies from preventing discrimination against parents ( in particular women with young children) at a time like this? When the shit hits the fan, it’s women who pick up the pieces. If it all gets too much, it’ll be women who step back to focus on the home. How can this be prevented?

It feels like the advances that have been made are being destroyed by this horrible disease. It’s depressing as hell.

I don’t feel angry really, just frustrated and a bit forgotten. I know this is new and a lot of these decisions are being made on the hoof, that the results of all the scientific research will always be lagging behind when we want answers on what is safe. Just venture onto the Covid threads to see the wild variation of opinions on schools/childcare. I also know that many many people have suffered in many ways and I don’t want to diminish that by whinging about my work situation.

But, what has bothered me has been the response by politicians, specifically government ministers, when asked, as if it’s the first time they even thought of parents. I do wonder if there was more female representation in the covid decision making, things might be better thought out.

All the “go to work, don’t go to work, go to the pub, don’t go to work” from Boris making woolly comments about how employers should do the decent thing/furlough those with childcare issues for example, but no formal requirement to do so. I wouldn’t expect parents’ jobs to be ringfenced at the expense of other workers, but if the government made it illegal to use Covid childcare issues as a reason for redundancy or down rating performance on appraisals/pay reviews then at least there would be a deterrent for employers to discriminate and an avenue for employees to take if they feel that they have been unfairly treated on the grounds of having kids/needing childcare during a pandemic.

It is also frustrating when all of this is directed back at parents (particularly mothers) as if all of this was somehow down to their choices... all the “school isn’t childcare, you should have chosen a different partner, your fault for taking on a more domestic role and not splitting childcare 50:50”etc. We are all where we are based on decisions made on a number of (until recently) fairly firm facts about basic economics, employment law, the jobs market and what childcare provision is available in this country. It does go to prove that a lot of the things we treat in life with relative certainty are shifting sand really.