‘You Can’t Eat Soap’: Reimagining COVID-19, Work, Family and Employment from the Global South

Abstract

This article problematises the assumptions regarding work, family and employment that underlie the World Health Organization (WHO)’s COVID-19 guidelines. The scientific evidence grounding sanitary and social distancing recommendations is embedded in conceptualisations of work as skilled jobs in the formal economy and of family as urban and nuclear. These are Global North rather than universal paradigms. We build on theories from the South and an intersectional analysis of gender and class inequalities to highlight contextual complexities currently neglected in responses to COVID-19. We argue that building on both science and local knowledge can help democratise workable solutions for a range of different work, family and employment realities in the Global South. Finally, we propose a research agenda calling for strengthened North–South dialogue to provincialise knowledge, account for differences in histories, locality and resource-availability, and foster greater local participation in policy formulation regarding sanitary measures and vaccination campaigns.

Gendered share of housework and the COVID‐19 pandemic: Examining self‐ratings and speculation of others in Germany, India, Nigeria, and South Africa

“…Both India (90%; Raveendran & Vanek, 2020) and Nigeria (80%) have large informal work sectors (such as agricultural laborers, kiosk owners, and street vendors) compared to South Africa (30%; Rogan, 2019) and Germany (11%; World Economics, n.d.). As most employees in the informal sector lack social protection coverage, the resultant impact of COVID-19 lockdowns exacerbated their vulnerability to economic and health risks (Jaga & Ollier-Malaterre et al, 2022).…”

“…In LMICs where informality is high, and states may be resource constrained in offering strong social safety nets, it is important to engage local community groups, together with government and non-governmental agencies to collectively develop sustainable social protection interventions and gender equity strategies. Uncritically imposing high-income country policies in diverse LMIC contexts, may fail to take into account local material realities, cultural complexities, household dynamics, and employment needs that arise from them (Jaga & Ollier-Malaterre, 2022). Meanwhile, financial assistance (to hire help) may be necessary for German families to balance their new work situations, while LMICs, where intergenerational homes are more common may already have the additional support (Alon et al, 2020).…”

“…We included three LMICs (India, Nigeria, and South Africa) and one high‐income country (Germany). Given that lockdown restrictions and contextual factors across the countries were so varied, we did not seek to make cross‐country comparisons about gender or GRI differences (to avoid inaccurate oversimplifications; ILOSTAT, 2021 ). Instead, we sought an exploratory approach with a descriptive design to better understand gender differences in the share of housework and childcare between men and women within each of the diverse countries, because research on gender roles and the COVID‐19 pandemic from LMIC contexts are scarce.…”

“I found my people”: Academic development, transformation and the Next Generation Professoriate at UCT

“…This shift opened space for diverse voices, diverse perspectives, for multiple alternatives and built and strengthened dialogue across disciplines and contexts. The value of transdisciplinary approaches to addressing these complex global issues, such as for example, supporting breastfeeding at work or an equitable COVID-19 recovery, then became obvious (Jaga 2020;Jaga and Ollier-Malaterre 2022;Stumbitz and Jaga 2020).…”

An empirical analysis of facilitators and barriers to the hybrid work model: a cross-cultural and multi-theoretical approach

“…Meanwhile, organizations are steadily returning to normalcy, with employees of all ages receiving the prevention vaccination (Jaga and Ollier-Malaterre, 2022). With the apprehensions post-pandemic, organizations need to understand the change in employee working behaviour and design appropriate policies to keep them motivated in the dynamic environment (De Boeck et al, 2018;Harsch and Festing, 2020).…”