Women's situation in lockdown times

“All epidemics have gendered effects,” says Clare Wenham, an associate professor of global health policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Studies show that there might be an explanation on why women are suffering more the coronavirus pandemic. Schools are closed, and women are facing more childcare responsibilities and more homeschooling than men. This may led women to work less, or even give up their jobs.

Morning Consult carried out a survey, to find out whether the domestic work was equally divided or not. The results were that 70% of women state they’re the most responsible ones for housework chores. Furthermore, 66% of them say that they feel the same way about taking care of the homeschooling of their kids. It is believed that women are even doing more housework during these time, because it’s been always like that: Investigations show that even though men have increased their time spend on domestic chores and child care, many people still believe that it’s a woman’s work.

These stereotypes explain why women are the ones responsible for homeschooling and housework.

Also, during these times, the calls to report domestic abuse has increased. In Spain, during the first days of April, there was an increase of 48% in the calls to 016, since the lockdown in mid March was announced. This is because abused women are forced to stay home with their abusers.