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?

anotherhuman that’s a very interesting idea, one I hadn’t considered.

I absolutely acknowledge that it was my (and dh) choice to have children. However it’s true that only in the position of being an actual working mother did I realize that all those ‘equality’ policies that are there to protect me count for bugger all in real life.

I’m ambitious and I expect to pull my weight. My employer has promised lots of potential ’extra responsibilities’ to get my teeth into when I return. To make up for the project I had developed then had to hand over. I’ve seen those supposedly juicy career nuggets and frankly it’s all the shit sweepings that the stellar employees don’t want.

Its fucking infuriating.

@LittleBearPad yeah Scotland is crap. Nurseries and all schools are shut too.

@Twistiesandshout

The inequality of the sexes is real. It is only truly and obviously evident once you are a mother, and it is getting worse and worse this year alone

and @anotherhumanfemale

Reading this thread though has made me think that while it is a feminist issue, it's very specifically a mothering issue. There's also a parental issue, but fundamentally it's about mothers.

It has always been the case. The difference now is that through mumsnet (and it is mainly mumsnet) women are now talking about it, brutally, honestly, anonymously and coming to realisations about the unfairness of it all when they maybe wouldn't have done before.

Women can't have it all. We just do it all.

@BuntingEllacott

I work 30hrs in a key worker position outside the home. H works fulltime from home. I have one child at college, and two at school, one of whom has Aspergers. I made the decision a couple of months before Christmas to stop doing all the housework I was doing, and this simply led to H berating the children for not pulling their weight. We have had to use savings to ensure each of them has a laptop to access remote learning, but I am not in the house to ensure it happens, and H thinks that as he is working when he is home, it's not up to him, which has been the same with general housework, though there is much fanfare if he has put a wash on during the day when I come back. Child with Aspergers has struggled enormously with the uncertainty.

It was coming anyway, but this has been the death knell for the marriage, and we are now going to separate, but that presents its own issues in the current situation, too, and obviously just because the marriage is over, as I am still in the home, when I am not at work, the default assumption is I will cook, clean, and monitor school. Even when I tried to drop it all deliberately, I was pestered constantly with 'What can I cook? What do we eat?' type questions via text. And obviously, I used the money I was saving to leave, to tide us over and now we're in Tier 4, so there's no realistic option of me being able to move on from this nightmare because I am the one on part time wages.

Is that all a feminist issue? Probably. Am I utterly exhausted? Fuck yes.

I’ve read your post sorry you are in this position. Can you work part time and claim UC? You could do a benefit calculation online.

Whilst it is definitely a mothering issue, particularly with the school announcements, it's also a carers issue.

Carers allowance is £67.25 a week and only available if you care for someone for 35 hours a week so a stunning £1.92 per hour max. How many carers have been utterly forgotten during this pandemic?

The cleaner isn’t allowed and she has no childcare so it ain’t happening.

I’ve posted before about the fact that so many female politicians are childless. Or child free. Either way I don’t think they appreciate just what an impact having kids has. I certainly didn’t feel in any way disadvantaged by my sex before pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding. I suspect this is partly why the importance of biological sex isn’t acknowledged.

The idea of mothering becoming a protected category is quite interesting. Imagine how just that one thing would revolutionise how women who have children are viewed in the workplace, never mind wider society.
See, I think that would make thigs MORE unequal, in the same way that I think the extending of mat leave did for women. When I had my dc it was 6 months-now a year is pretty standard. Whilst it's tough going back to work with a young baby, it does prevent the woman in the relationship getting stuck in that role for too long-stuck with ALL the housework, all the shopping and whatnot. I think, rather than make more allowances for the way women's lives currently go, we should be putting the spotlight on men, and what is expected of them in terms of parental leave and childcare. Hell, even sorting out child support would be a great start.
I don't want "women's work" to be protected, I want it to be smashed to pieces and shared out equally.

This absolutely is an issue. A very worrying one too.
All the research has shown that the pandemic is disproportionately affecting women and their participation in labour market.

It's not really about men not pulling their weight - in some cases yes, but not overwhelmingly.
It's far more to do with who is the bigger earner and societal expectations on the role of men and women at work and at home.

It won't stop them getting jobs - no one gets a job based on grades - it's on interview performance/references

This is completely incorrect. I say that as an experience, qualified careers adviser and someone who researches the labour market.

@IfNotNow12

The idea of mothering becoming a protected category is quite interesting. Imagine how just that one thing would revolutionise how women who have children are viewed in the workplace, never mind wider society. See, I think that would make thigs MORE unequal, in the same way that I think the extending of mat leave did for women. When I had my dc it was 6 months-now a year is pretty standard. Whilst it's tough going back to work with a young baby, it does prevent the woman in the relationship getting stuck in that role for too long-stuck with ALL the housework, all the shopping and whatnot. I think, rather than make more allowances for the way women's lives currently go, we should be putting the spotlight on men, and what is expected of them in terms of parental leave and childcare. Hell, even sorting out child support would be a great start. I don't want "women's work" to be protected, I want it to be smashed to pieces and shared out equally.

Yeah but what are you going to do in the meantime? Fact is women are doing it and it won’t change that quickly so we have to protect those women.

Universal parental income and ‘mother’ as a protected characteristic are both very interesting ideas, I would love to see if any of the think tanks or government departments (not likely!) are working on any of this stuff.

Also agree with the petition being developed.
I would sign up to all of that.

And we need to legislate somehow so that men are automatically disadvantaged by having children in exactly the same way women are, because it's only when they have to deal with that will we get anywhere
I agree but I fear the most likely upshot would be men refusing to become parents
They will do anything they can to wriggle out of taking the hit!

@ChattyLion

Universal parental income and ‘mother’ as a protected characteristic are both very interesting ideas, I would love to see if any of the think tanks or government departments (not likely!) are working on any of this stuff.

Also agree with the petition being developed.
I would sign up to all of that.

Y, Y, but also doubt it. Why look a gift horse in the mouth?

I think we have hit the nail on the head in this thread - the greatest failure of feminism - the devaluing of motherhood. And I am a feminist, who is a mother and who took time out to be a SAHP to my children - I am still a feminist and I took the time out because DH and I had money saved from our careers to date to do so.

I think all women and men need to be re-educated on the absolute essential value of motherhood / parenthood (many men at my DC's primary school are SAHP - it is not a gender issue, it is a parenting issue) and this needs to be a protected structure in society.

I also disagree with the societal presumption that children's education is effectively "free childcare" since I do not believe that parents can use school time as childcare - we all need to have a back-up - why should teachers be our childminders?

I am not blaming women here - I am blaming society (mostly men) and some women (even on here) who point to "oh your youngest is in school so go and get a job now" - every parent who works should have a reliable source of childcare - that is NOT a school.

Perhaps the best thing to come out of Covid for women is for us to realise that there is no such thing as equality for women - the advantages are still all with men. So anyone who says there is no longer a need for feminism has not been paying attention.

It has made me consider how to talk to my own dc about this in future.

When I talked about having kids/career with my Mum and dh it was all ‘new generation yes choicy choicy yes you go for it’.

I think I will be being honest with my older children now, that inequality is real and as long as it continues to exist the impact will be on women.

I’ve been looking at think tanks’ websites like the IPPR policy exchange, and .. nothing on this issue of women’s work and health being jeopardised by school closures that I can see.

@Yohoheaveho

And we need to legislate somehow so that men are automatically disadvantaged by having children in exactly the same way women are, because it's only when they have to deal with that will we get anywhere I agree but I fear the most likely upshot would be men refusing to become parents They will do anything they can to wriggle out of taking the hit!

Many many men already opt out of parenting - financially and in terms of emotional / caring labour. There is NO real penalty for them in doing so.

Agree. I have a career of my own but my husband is in construction and works long hours outside of the home and also isn’t as academic as I am so education and childcare all falls to me on top of my job. I’m also studying for my Msc, thankfully not starting up again until the end of January but holding things together this year has almost broken me, I’m dreading January.

Agree it's a feminist issue. In Scotland here and nursery is closed, so not sure what to do with my 11 month old while trying to work. My partner probably does more than 50% of the childcare in his defence, but he can't take time off work (no holidays and don't get sick pay), is the main breadwinner, and his job is very unforgiving of not giving it his full attention, so I'm going to have to somehow juggle childcare and work 🤷🏻‍♀️ I'll probably just end up doing a shit job of both and feeling like crap

This academic thinks it’s a feminist issue:
www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/2020/hss/when-women-bear-the-brunt-of-lockdowns-is-it-feminist-to-support-another.html

@ChattyLion

I’ve been looking at think tanks’ websites like the IPPR policy exchange, and .. nothing on this issue of women’s work and health being jeopardised by school closures that I can see.

Oh gosh, I’m shocked!

This academic interviewed women over lockdown and found they were bearing the burden disproportionately www.hud.ac.uk/news/2020/september/women-bear-the-brunt-of-covid-and-lockdown/

I’m sure I saw an article in the last lockdown that said that academic papers submitted by women had dropped to virtually nil but men’s submissions had actually gone UP! I’ll see if I can find it.

[quote ChattyLion]This academic thinks it’s a feminist issue:
www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/2020/hss/when-women-bear-the-brunt-of-lockdowns-is-it-feminist-to-support-another.html[/quote]
This article is spot on.

Anyone pushing for further lockdowns should read this.

Yes, it is a feminist issue. Im thanking my "lucky" stars that my kids are almost 15 and 18 because if this had happened when i first managed to get back to work (and that was v hard) i would have just lost the job shortly after finding it. Being a single parent, i could have spent my whole life (after parenthood) on benefits. And if you think that sounds too dramatic, you havent job searched at 47. The ageism is unbelievable. I would not like to be job searching now at 50 in a recession. Thank god i have a secure job. I feel terrible for single mothers where i was 5 years ago

@Sexnotgender

I’m sure I saw an article in the last lockdown that said that academic papers submitted by women had dropped to virtually nil but men’s submissions had actually gone UP! I’ll see if I can find it.

This true. My university is really concerned about this and is trying to ensure women have additional support as publications are directly linked to promotions. They're concerned about the longer term impact on women's careers.