Gendering COVID-19: Impact of the Pandemic on Women's Burden of Unpaid Work in India

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the already existing gender inequalities with substantial implications on women. With the closure of offices and educational institutions, and the emerging norm of work from home and online education, along with the lack of services of domestic worker, the need to perform unpaid chores in the household has increased. Simultaneously, the requirements of social distancing and sanitization have created new unpaid chores. Owing to the sexual division of labour, and gendered roles and social norms of performing domestic and care work, the burden of unpaid work falls disproportionately on women. In this context, the objective of the paper is to study the impact of COVID-19 on time spent on unpaid work and the underlying gender differences in the urban centres in India. Specifically, the paper will do a comparative analysis of the gender differences in time spent on unpaid work before and during the lockdown, and analyse the reasons for the same.

Women’s wellbeing and the burden of unpaid work

“…5 Because of the gendered nature of domestic and reproductive roles, women and girls are often expected to assume unpaid domestic work and care. 6 Unpaid care work is a major factor in determining both whether women enter and stay in paid employment and the quality of their work. 7 Although evidence is limited in the context of unpaid work on the effect of individual level factors (eg, perceptions of distress, cumulative stress load, past mental health problems) and ecological factors (eg, household conditions, space constraints, noise) on stress and mental health, the contributions of drudgery and the physical demands of unpaid work need to be considered.…”

COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Gendered Impact on Indian Physicians

“…A recent survey performed to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on the burden of unpaid work for women further underscores the gender disparities in domestic work in the Indian context. 33 According to this survey, during the lockdown, a large proportion of married women witnessed a sharp increase in their unpaid work load; this trend was also seen prominently in employed women.…”

Evaluation of a gender synchronized family planning intervention for married couples in rural India: The CHARM2 cluster randomized control trial

“…This loss of effect, which corresponds with loss of effect on contraceptive use, may indicate need for booster session to sustain intervention effects; prior research shows that FP interventions likely require booster sessions for sustained impact. 18 Loss of effect on women's perception of their equal right in contraceptive decision-making may also be due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in gender regressive practices in households, reinforcing male dominance and authority, 31 as well as impeding mobility and contraceptive access for women. 31,32 With regard to women's perceptions that they could use contraception even if their husband did not want to, findings are more complex.…”