COVID19's impact on women

pwurple

I read this article

It's about the changes we see at the moment and impact this will have now and in the future on women and equality.

This piece struck me.
"For Wenham, the most striking statistic from Sierra Leone, one of the countries worst affected by Ebola, was that from 2013 to 2016, during the outbreak, more women died of obstetric complications than the infectious disease itself"


This:
"In both rich and poor countries, campaigners expect domestic-violence rates to rise during lockdown periods."


This, about highly educated productive women pulling back to soak up childcare and eldercare.

"“My spouse is a physician in the emergency dept, and is actively treating #coronavirus patients. We just made the difficult decision for him to isolate & move into our garage apartment for the foreseeable future as he continues to treat patients,” wrote the Emory University epidemiologist Rachel Patzer, who has a three-week-old baby and two young children. “As I attempt to home school my kids (alone) with a new baby who screams if she isn’t held, I am worried about the health of my spouse and my family.”


What's the impact on you?

meeeeh

I have to spend time with kids. It's hard work.

At the moment it's grand, I'm working from home more. OH is in the business and at the moment we are just careful and deal only with bigger projects. We don't allow sales people or smaller customers in.

lonestargirl

As a single parent and healthcare worker I don’t know when I’ll next see my child. He’s gone to live with my parents. I need to work, he needs to be minded and even though my parents are 61 and in great health I feel the safest thing is for me not to see them.

(His dad and step mum are also healthcare workers so they are not in a position to help either). He needs to stay in one place or else his a risk of spreading the virus.

pwurple

lonestargirl wrote: »

As a single parent and healthcare worker I don’t know when I’ll next see my child. He’s gone to live with my parents. I need to work, he needs to be minded and even though my parents are 61 and in great health I feel the safest thing is for me not to see them.

(His dad and step mum are also healthcare workers so they are not in a position to help either). He needs to stay in one place or else his a risk of spreading the virus.

That is a serious sacrifice. Thank you.

lonestargirl

pwurple wrote: »

That is a serious sacrifice. Thank you.

Thanks, others are making far greater sacrifice. I won't directly be working with Covid patients but I work in Oncology and our patients still need their treatment. The challenge is keeping them safe but also delivering quality treatment with ever diminishing members of staff. By staying away from my parents I am keeping them safe but I also have a duty to do everything I can to keep our vulnerable patients safe too.


Healthcare workers are disproportionately female and there are many families where both parents are healthcare workers. I did get an email from my employer asking did I need childcare and many parents are splitting shifts to ensure they can both work and mind their kids.


I do worry about some single parents (not only mothers!), it can be isolating enough already and being stuck at home without another adult can be tough. Also, I see some shops are banning kids. Fine if like me you can leave your 9 year old in the car but if you are the single parent of a toddler you don't have much choice except to bring them with you.

My baby is just under two weeks old and we got married and moved to a new area a couple of months ago (just before this blew up). I only know my in-laws here and my husband works in a hospital, and as in the post above, he's decided he can't risk exposing me to the virus because of the baby and is now living in the granny flat attached to my in-laws house. My in-laws come over to see the baby through the window, they're in the vulnerable category so this is their only trip out daily, and the only way they get to see their only grandchild. So now I'm alone with a newborn in a strange place with no support, and my family are abroad. I'm assuming this situation will continue for months, which I can't bear to think about. However, it's infinitely worse for my husband who is heartbroken. Not only is he dealing with such a catastrophic situation but he's missing out on the first weeks and months of his childs life, other than video calls and kisses behind the window. It's not what we dreamed of and talked about, but it's the reality we have to deal with and it's horrifically stressful at a time when I'm feeling pretty vulnerable anyway.

I'm feeling the loneliness hard after just two weeks. I try focus on the positives, I'm safe, the babys safe, the bills are paid. I can't imagine what it's like being trapped indoors in a small house with a large family, say. Or held hostage in a hostile situation with relationship breakdown or domestic violence. We should be enjoying the happiest time of our lives, and it's hard not to feel robbed, even if others have it worse.

This is all apart from my family back home, several of whom are working in the NHS. I worry about them, and my elderly gran, all the time.

hairyprincess

Candle, I am sorry you and your family are in this position. The repercussions from Covid-19 are far reaching and possibly detrimental to those who are vulnerable either regarding their health or their domestic situation.

Thinking of you and your little one, many congratulations to you xx

miamee

Oh Candie, that is desperately hard for you and your husband. You are both in a very difficult position, I really do sympathise with you. At least baby is too young to remember in the future or know that they've missed out on time with Dad or grandparents - very small consolation I know.