Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1245222
10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 10 MAY 2020 NEWS LAURA CALLEJA BALANCING work and kids is always a challenge, but with the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down schools to boot, women suddenly find themselves facing an even more challenging daily reality. Brenda Murphy, a professor in gender studies, and sociologist Angele Deguara see the narra- tive shifting and more partners are sharing the workload. But a bona fide balance is yet to be struck, and the pandemic has only brought to the fore the dis- parity that was already in place. "We know that a woman's workday is longer because of the 'second shift', and the unpaid labour that they do at home. It's not even just the cooking, cleaning and washing. Now it's also the home schooling and the caring not just for children, but the elderly, among others," Murphy said. Globally, 75% of unpaid work is done by women. They spend between three and six hours a day compared to men's average of 30 minutes to two hours. At an individual level, men may be doing their share, but not at a population level. "We know that as women increasingly joined the labour force, men have not matched this shift with comparative increase in their unpaid work." However, Deguara highlights that not all the effects of lock- down have been negative on women – suggesting that wom- en now working from home may find it easier to balance their work and family duties, especially since they no longer have to commute to work. "This also depends on the kind of support that they have from their partner. Women are generally expected to deal with the demands of both worlds, re- gardless of whether they work full-time or part-time, whether they have professional careers or not, whether they earn more or less than their partners,.". In 2018, Eurostat revealed 79% of women in the EU still cooked and did housework each day, compared to 34% of men. Staying on trend, the Gender Equality Index 2019: Work-Life Balance found that in Malta around 81% of women do the cooking and housework every day for at least one hour, com- pared to only 37% of men. Deguara said that working from home may be more dif- ficult for women with small, dependent children or women who need to care for children with disabilities who are now also out of school and need constant attention. "Women who have older chil- dren and their partners also working from home may also be expected to cook more meals for them and to attend to their other needs more frequent- ly than usual, putting greater strain on women," Deguara said. Murphy called to attention single mothers, a group who are often overlooked. "I can't im- agine what it is like to be a sin- gle parent with young children; or even older children, but es- pecially younger children at this moment." Leaving single-parent house- holds out of the conversation is especially worrying since ac- cording to the NSO in 2019, they make up 12% of house- holds in Malta. Murphy said that the load was especially difficult for these par- ents. "If they're working, there's nobody around to share the bur- den. And if they're not working, they're twice as stressed because they're worried about finances." Kids won't fall behind Murphy says she feels strong- ly that educational institutions have to come forward and state clearly that parents do not need to be perfect teachers, and should not be expected to bur- den themselves with that addi- tional load of stress on top of everything else right now. "It's nearly May and the av- erage syllabus would be almost complete by now anyway. Insti- Angele Deguara On the verge of lockdown stress Forget about being superwomen "In a patriarchal society, much more is needed than a lockdown to solve the problems of gender imbalance. On the contrary, it may worsen the situation"