Times of women vs. times of the pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated pre-existing inequality, and women face the devastating consequences
By Anabel Antuña Alfonso, Staff Writer
Translated from Spanish by Amanda Olmo Infante
In the pandemic stage that we are living through as a consequence of Covid 19, the differences between different social groups have deepened, and the relations of domination of some over others have become evident.
The deep crisis that capitalist society is experiencing has become more evident at this stage, in which to get out of the water it once again exploits more disadvantaged groups, migrants, undocumented people, those with precarious jobs, LGBTQ+ groups, etc.
The virus does not decide who it hurts, but the capitalist and patriarchal system does. Once again, women have borne the brunt of this crisis that has brought out gender inequities and violence that the world feminist movement has been denouncing for decades. The tensions, problems and situations that women have had to face in this time of social distancing have been disparate, showing once again their condition of vulnerability and social disadvantage compared to men.
Women since before this pandemic, and continuing through it, have been on the front lines of the battle as cashiers, doctors, nurses, cleaners, domestic workers, teachers. The situation of those who work as domestic workers in private homes deserves special attention. Studies show that more than 70% of people who work as domestic workers are women.
Despite the progress that has been made in this regard (creation of public policies, unions and special attention) this is still one of the sectors with the highest percentage of people who are not registered with social security. This means that many women are left on the streets by decision of their employers and do not have any labor rights that protect or shelter them. Many of the households in which the mothers are domestic workers are also single-parent households in which they are the head of the family, that is, the only source of income on which the rest of its members depend. As numerous studies have shown, women occupy lower-paying jobs than men, to the point of feminizing certain sectors such as domestic workers.
Many of them have been forced to continue working in these times of pandemic in the homes of their bosses, some even in homes where there are Covid-19 patients. They have had no other option but to take the risk and face the deadly virus -- risking both their lives and their family’s lives or choosing to dispense with the only possibility of supporting their family. These women have had to assume multiple roles that they previously have not and that increase their exposure to the disease. Now they have the obligation to do the shopping in supermarkets, go to the mail, be open to all the requested home services by families, and the most demanding families have included the care of their pets with veterinary services and dog groomers. By not having a formal contract or a social security support, these new demands in the times of the pandemic do not translate into increases in means of protection, much less in wages. These women also expose their lives and those of their family to the virus every day when they get on buses or public transport to go and return to the houses where they work. Another problem that arises in these times of COVID-19 and the confinement necessary to protect life, is the increase in unpaid work while tasks within the home multiply. In these times, the triple shifts that women carry are livable and visible: they work on the streets, work at home, work on projects, and also take care of daughters, sons or elderly who live at home. The suspension of educational tasks means that children and adolescents remain at home, which entails a greater burden of care tasks. The evidence in this sense is overwhelming and indicates that domestic and care work falls mainly on women, girls and adolescents. This new situation will further stress the already difficult reconciliation of employment with family responsibilities, and leisure activities and personal care. Many women have had to adapt to the modality of teleworking, a new experience they are facing, others have been forced to give up their sources of income as a result of the increase in family tasks, assuming new ones most of the time amidst the demands of increased isolation. Many women scientists have written less than the males and in worse conditions than usual -- such as long working hours attending to the rest of the family, teleworking at night after putting the patients to bed, kids, multitasking, etc.
This situation also becomes difficult because the slogan of social isolation and confinement at home is promoted under the premise that it is the safe place from which to face this pandemic, but this is not the case for one in five women. According to 2019 data from the latest National Survey of Prevalence of Violence Based on Gender and Generations, 18.4% of women experienced situations of violence by the family in the last 12 months, 19.5% by a partner or ex-partner. This includes episodes of psychological, economic-patrimonial, physical, digital or sexual violence. Confinement reinforced and exacerbated these power relations. Thus, COVID-19’s impact on this dimension increases the risk factors and, therefore, the incidence of domestic violence that affects mostly women, girls, boys and adolescents.
When we talk about care tasks, it is not only about caring for the sick, but also about raising, feeding, dressing and educating children, caring for, bathing, accompanying and providing medicines required by older adults who require more assistance. This increases the time spent inside their homes, as well as the demand for tasks that involve external tasks. It is also spending time with the little ones at home, playing with them so that they do not fall into a state of anxiety at home without having a social life or contact with friends from the neighborhood or school. It also means ensuring they continue with class homework, to ensure that minors from home continue with their school development.
With the pandemic, women's time has nothing to do with the hours that the clock marks, the day is not enough to fulfill all the work that falls on them. In these months, the use of women's main time, of their vital energies (intellectual, emotional, erotic, spiritual) and the investment of their goods and resources go to the other -- that is to say they have lost the notion of their personal care.
Care is also reproduction and feeding, and in these times of pandemic the food crisis has increased. In many countries it has been seen how the shortage has generated speculation that it will leave many people without food. Many women have continued planting and giving food to the communities, or have returned to exchanges with local fishermen, and defend the existence of markets in order to become independent from supermarkets.
This pandemic has made more visible what happens every day with the war, Latin American and Caribbean indigenous women are unfairly expropriated from their territories, pollution and the destruction of nature are increasing more and more. In impoverished towns many women work and defend the land, since the goods used as natural resources come from the river that they love, the medicines from the plants they grow, and the food from the seeds they keep. That is why these women have been looted, attacked, murdered -- they oppress them with impunity for the benefit of extractive companies to the detriment of the lives of native peoples.
Reproduction is also the care of nature. In sustainable agriculture where women are the first workers, they do not have a lucrative purpose, but rather it is an agriculture that supports their families. In this way, they can ensure that the food that enters the body is not going to kill them because increasingly capitalism industrializes agriculture, causing many diseases such as cancer and diabetes, among others. In these difficult times, indigenous women have called a lot to create small gardens at home to have the basic and fundamental vegetables to feed the family. They have also encouraged the struggle for the creation of communes, where solidarity is one of the fundamental values that prevails in their lives so that everyone in the community has healthy food that allows them to survive. Here the "give what you have and not what you have left" is fundamental because the philosophy of these communes is to help each other to achieve better living conditions.
ANABEL ANTUÑA ALFONSO is a sociology student at the University of Havana
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