School closures: Thousands of women have just had their double shift doubled

[Carefulvulvadriver]

What should the feminist response to the above be? Yes yes, of course fathers should do their share of the home school and childcare, but we know many dont and wont, and that still leaves a problem for single mothers like me.
This afternoon the government has announced that 100s of primary schools across the country will not reopen as planned in January. I suspect many more will be added to the list over the next week or so.
We know that will leave 1000s of women once again having to juggle work, childcare and home school. They will feel the stress and hit to their mental health of trying to do that. They will miss out on promotions, pay rises and opportunities as a result. They will have to cancel study plans. Many will work until 3am each morning as the only chance they will have to work will be after the kids have gone to bed. And as ever, it will be the poorest women who will be the worst hit, as will their kids. Some men will suffer from this too, but it will disproportionately hit women.

How should feminists respond? Surely this IS a feminist issue - it's about how social policy and our economic way of life has not been designed with women in mind. The woman stuff - the looking after children and educating them - is somehow to be tagged on as an after thought; the work and time to be magic-ed out of thin air, as it's only the man stuff that counts or is important.

In my view we should be demanding paid parenting leave, funded by the government. I think we should also be putting pressure on the government to confirm it will run "catch up" schools in the summer holidays for the kids who have missed out on education (there will be a problem getting the staffing, although I wonder if TAs might be available as I know that in some cases they are on zero hour contracts and so not paid in the holidays).

What else? Any one got any ideas? And what if we dont get it? Will we just do what so many of us did back in spring (me included) and just suck it up? I love my job, I'm lucky that it's really fulfilling, but isnt it time we refused to do the impossible?

@LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett mine gave the 10 days too, for anyone with caring responsibility, I took it a few days at a time, mainly when my father died because as well as being a single mum I have POA for elderly parents so I needed the time to sort a lot of stuff out after he passed.

You have a good point I do wonder what the split was on taking it, I might ask the question when I return. If I get an answer I'll share.

And I did encourage my team (all men) to take it too to share the burden etc

no one gets a job based on grades

Competitive university courses like medicine are grades based.

But perhaps you missed that this discussion is about how school closures will disproportionately impact on women and not about the rights and wrongs of the closures generally, that's been thoroughly discussed elsewhere.

It does disproportionately impact on women. It's disingenuous to suggest it doesn't.

@jeaux90 dont get me wrong, I think it's a fantastic benefit and will no doubt have been a lifesaver for many, but if say a work culture is very based around presenteeism it won't come without cost. Would be very interesting to know the split.

Employers have to start to think deeply about this kind of stuff to make any kind of real change.

And sorry about your dad.

Interesting to read this, as nearly all the women friends I have have worked outside of the home throughout the last however many months-nhs/teaching mainly-and it’s been the DH’s with the jobs that have moved from the office to home who are working at the dining table with their laptops whilst home-schooling the kids!

@LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett thank you.

You have a very good point about being present etc I don't think taking the additional time did me any favours, my career has definitely been impacted by having a child at home and being a single mum. Not being able to attend and "contribute" on all online meetings because of my child's SN has not been very well received at work.

I am absolutely dreading the next few weeks.

The problem for women is that they care too much about their children and so they can't stand to see them neglected.

When push comes to shove they make the sacrifices and men don't. I actually think in the majority of cases women just love their children more.

The IFS and UCL researchers found that:

	* Mothers are more likely than fathers to have left paid work since February. 
	* Among mothers and fathers who are still in paid work, mothers have seen a bigger proportional reduction in hours of work than fathers.
	*Among those doing paid work at home, mothers are more likely than fathers to be spending their work hours simultaneously trying to care for children. 

This is not the cause of the problem, it simply magnifies a problem that still exists and has done for centuries. And whilst parents continue to raise their boys to focus on success in their career and not help around the home, and raise their girls to be more concerned about hair and make up and aspire only to traditional female roles, nothing will change.

On the flip side, companies are now far more open to people working from home which will offer many working mums the flexibility they have been fighting for, for a long time.

@jeaux90 - I hear you. I'm also a single parent and last lockdown was a bloody nightmare. My autistic teen's fragile mental health is back on an even keel now but he will not cope with another prolonged period at home.

And work is only so tolerant. In the weeks before Christmas which I had to homeschool, I was working from 6am until 11pm to try and fit in everything. That isn't sustainable long term

I wish the government would approach it from the other direction. Rather than deciding children need to be at home so whatever that means for parents is tough luck, maybe ask your employer to be flexible or something ()

Instead start off with the obvious: it is not possible to care for and homeschool young children and also do most paid jobs at the same time. We know that. So given that, what policies or support system or legislation do we need to put into place to fill the gap if schools and/or childcare need to close? And then go from there.

I know it’s not just women who are affected, but we all know it’s primarily women. And it’s so maddening and sad how much of the public discussion around this (when it even exists!) treats caring for and educating children as things we just make happen that don’t require any actual time, and that we should stop whinging about not being able to outsource.

And not just young children either (although that’s my own experience at the moment). Children with SEN, children who need more support than the hone learning material and a textbook can provide, children who could work independently to some degree but are lonely and miserable and worried and don’t want to be on their own in front of a laptop all day in an empty house aged 12.

I left my career land became a sahm because I saved up and wanted a career break with my kids and I was working long long hours without being financially compensated. I had intended to go back and get work this March or after the 11 plus process for my eldest child.

My husband has a business and he has worked every single day apart from 4 sundays and Christmas Day. His business can be adversely impacted by covid and brexit.

We both feel trapped.

He needs to ensure his business survives and has actually supported the females in his business - one has a disabled child and another is past retirement age - so in doing the right thing he goes in (as he is the youngest) and they work from home.
He also is really understanding so doesn't push them.

At the moment we don't even sleep in the same room because we don't want one of us to get covid. My children have self isolated twice each and thankfully have not got covid yet.

We have no close family as they are overseas.

But I managed to get my eldest through 11 plus as he was going to a school that feel apart in year 5 anyhow as had multiple teachers leave (funnily 2 were working mum's with your children who were great teachers but I think they just had had enough).

Where I live in London top grades are really key.

What is interesting to me is that it seems to me it is mainly women who take on the extra tuition and many are called "tiger mums" or I am told "you are so lucky you don't have a full tile job to hold down and homeschool"...

But I know there are so many more really suffering. I try drop off food parcels and cooking to some friends I know are struggling financially or mentally and it is getting scary seeing some friends. They seem to really have got down. Abs obviously I can't really stay as I don't have time and we are in tier 4

Problem is, why aren't more women pissed off about it? Because they're too busy at home with the kids? Juggling 4 jobs?

Can't expect men to be pissed off about it, obviously

And what is annoying is if I had stayed employed it would take the pressure off somewhat.
My dear husband who actually was someone who really did prioritise his children has just found that brexit and covid are like a perfect storm. So he feels he has to work like a demon to secure his business because you never know what is going to happen.

grassisjeweled I think in part because employment structures are just so anti women.

All the caring work is so undervalued.

Once you get to one income you create real power imbalances.

That is what I have realised anyhow.

When I do get employed again I never ever want to be unemployed again.

I love my children and I could not have truly foreseen brexit and covid but I do feel by "not working" even though I work really hard - one of my children has full on needs- I am just supporting the patriarchy and somehow this god awful conservative govt.

jeaux90 This is a feminist issue, of course it is, the government don't give a shit about mums, single or married.

--- this 1 million times.

Although I had hoped employers may see the benefit of home working and that that may help women but now I wonder ...

@GoldenOmber

I wish the government would approach it from the other direction. Rather than deciding children need to be at home so whatever that means for parents is tough luck, maybe ask your employer to be flexible or something ()

Instead start off with the obvious: it is not possible to care for and homeschool young children and also do most paid jobs at the same time. We know that. So given that, what policies or support system or legislation do we need to put into place to fill the gap if schools and/or childcare need to close? And then go from there.

I know it’s not just women who are affected, but we all know it’s primarily women. And it’s so maddening and sad how much of the public discussion around this (when it even exists!) treats caring for and educating children as things we just make happen that don’t require any actual time, and that we should stop whinging about not being able to outsource.

This. My work went “oh yes, we know it’s hard and we don’t expect you to be able to do full-time work and full-time homeschool.” Yes. That’s lovely. But what do you expect? I know women (and some men) getting up at 6, working for 3 hours, then homeschooling and exercising kids for 3 hours until lunch, then working another 3 hours, then homeschooling until 6.30, while the other partner homeschools 9-12, then works 6-9. You don’t need to be a genius to realise that being on the clock for 9 hours is not sustainable. It’s shit. It’s bad for you. But is that what the workplace wants? If they won’t be specific, then what? Call their bluff and work 9-5 with 3 hours off to do a bit of homeschooling and a run round the park with the kids? That’s probably less than 2 hours school. Is that enough? Sounds a bit shit. If work knows you’re only doing 5 hours work, that also sounds a bit shit. Will they fire you? Will you get really behind? Can you do 5 hours during the week and 4 hours Sat and Sun? What about the kids then? What about the 6 hour timetable the school sent home? Failing on that, aren’t you? Pretty shit parent there, aren’t you? What if you get up at 6, work for 3 hours, do 5-6 hours homeschool and then work from 6-11pm? How’s that? Hours achieved. Shit existence, but who cares about you?

If workplaces aren’t specific about requirements, they’ll get people (women) working themselves endlessly, not working endlessly but feeling endlessly guilty, or getting sacked because they aren’t working endlessly. Yay, fun!

There should be official government guidelines along the lines of the Working Time Directive acknowledging that homeschool/childcare is work and including it in official hours worked.

I came on to say that the decision to keep primaries open is a feminist issue, with women making up 82% of the workforce. As is the problem with the burden of home learning disproportionately falling on women's shoulders. They're not mutually exclusive.
HeartLantern, you must consider women as a class in this context, not necessarily let your own experience inform your thinking.
A PP mentioned unworkable home learning provision. As a primary school teacher, the guidance during the first lockdown was that daily home learning should amount to approximately 2 hours, with many schools opting to offer additional learning opportunities and project style self directed tasks for children who might enjoy or benefit from a fuller offering to engage with. DCs school and mine, like many others, offered a tiered 'must, should, could' model, whereby the 'must' comprised one English and one maths task per day, expected to take approximately 2h to complete, the 'should' representing 'lighter' more self-directed tasks such as practising set spellings, or doing a 15 minute stint on an allocated times table app or completing a short set task on an online platform, while the 'could' would be research based challenges, art projects or extended writing tasks to choose from. This tiered smörgåsbord model allows parents like me with a DC with SEN, who absolutely loathed home learning, to cap our efforts at the minimum level of 'must', while DC2, who is a real keener, could engage with the 'should' and 'could' with little if any parental intervention.

I quit my job when it was clear we couldn't cope with a full time job and a part time job on my return from mar leave in the autumn. Husband is the higher earner. It feels like a smart choice now but I used to have a professional career and now I'm unemployed. The alternative was breastfeeding half the night and working shifts around toddlers though so it might have killed us.

My work can be done from home. But the assumption is that it can magically e done while looking after kids. The reality was I was online for 12 to 14 hours with very short breaks to feed the kids/try to get them to log on/tell them to go to bed. Everyone’s mental health suffered.

To be honest I'm dreading my 2 going back. There school is open but I'm expecting regular homeschooling due to periods of self isolation like last term. Trying to juggle wfh and school work with 2 children is exhausting. My day is so much longer as I start earlier/finish later just so I can spend some time with them during the day. I was offered a promotion a few months back but turned it down as it would mean an increase in hours. It's not sustainable, and I feel like my dc are being neglected by being left to their own devices for hours on end.

Great post, cheddar
My work expected quite a lot of me last time and my DH did four full days of childcare for a 1yo and 3yo and I did one, he's a teacher and could just about manage that if he did evenings too.
The 3yo is now four and a bit easier but the toddler can't be left to her own devices or the tv for longer than about half an hour.
If it was possible to work from home with small kids we'd all do it! It's expressly forbidden at my work, but not when they need you to, eh?

Thanks for starting this thread OP.
I agree with so much of what has been written.
It's fascinating to read the herculean efforts we are all making to cope with the ridiculous burden of work that's been placed on us.
My own situation isn't too bad as I work part time from home.
I'm aware that's unusual and privileged. And also (conversely) that's it's not for the ambitious.
So although it's working for me personally- it concerns me that it's almost the only kind of work that's possible for women right now.
The ability to make a living has just been taken away from vast numbers of women.
I worry about the children that places in poverty right now.
And I worry for the position of women when all this is over. As pp said: We may be put back 50 years.
I agree with OP that some kind of homeschooling allowance should be provided. It would be a really essential safety net for women and children facing poverty now that paid work has become so difficult. And would also keep a bit more money circulating around the economy- which is badly needed.
I also agree with PPS who have pointed out how undervalued childcare and homeschooling is.
I think on some level the government has decided that less good parenting is a price they're willing to pay to keep the economy going/people alive.
It's morally horrific because for a minority of kids this has meant a slide into actual neglect (I don't mean warm, well fed kids watching too much Netflix. That's not neglect no matter how guilty you feel about it!)
Most kids are fine but as pp have said, that's because Mums are wearing ourselves to the bone to make it all work out. I agree with the PP who said women just love their kids more. We know this fall's to us and we sacrifice to make it work. Public policy right now is like a master class in taking that for granted.

Well here's one thing, realise this is a small problem compared to others.

I'm in the initial 5 year period of a job (university lecturer). University offered to delay people's tenure review due to covid. Which sounds nice until you realise it's another year on lower pay, vulnerable to redundancy, can't be promoted.

I've put mine in anyway asking them to judge me pro rata on the years I've worked there, leaving out 2020 which was a write off due to toddlers and covid related teaching work. It could backfire I suppose but I think it could open a conversation also.

Luckily for me my husband does his half (two toddlers at home) but even that doesn't make it fair as I have plenty of (male) colleagues whose wives are sorting the kids and they are charging ahead with their careers. Unfortunately those are the people to whom I will be compared in future