Maybe it’s time to also talk about gender discrimination.
In the age of Covid, where the home spheres and work spheres have become comingled, how are households coping? Who is taking care of the children when they are not able to attend school? This example can shed some light:
In looking at academic research papers submitted over the last four months, female-submitted papers has dropped by 70%, while male-submitted papers remained flat.
In most cases, even in cases where women are the main breadwinners in the household, women are taking on more of the domestic and childcare responsibilities than men. Laetitia Vitaud, a researcher on the future of work, estimates that gender work-life imbalances during Covid could affect women’s earnings for the next decade.
Governments are not helping. For example, in Australia, the government is establishing new subsidies for construction industries at the same time as it has pulled free child care for health and social care workers.
Some people are calling on Universal Basic Income (UBI) as a way to ensure greater equality and provide a safety net. But Vitaud points out that just looking at income without also considering care (child care, elder care, health care) and housing, and without also replacing stereotypes of gender roles with equitable models, is just magical thinking.
Yes, men have taken on more responsibility for their children during Covid, but overall, the burden has fallen disproportionately on women. It’s another example where the ugly truths of what’s not working in our societies become glaringly obvious; if we look at them, and not through confirmationally biased eyes.
Let’s take stock and start this conversation about gender roles and equity.