Mothers face a problem, in addition to having their jobs, they are the managers of the homes, so they have to carry out different roles at the same time. Even when they have full-time jobs that allow them to do it from home. "I feel like I have five jobs: mom, teacher, principal, housekeeper, chef," said Sarah Joyce Willey, director of a health services company in Sharon, Massachusetts.
Joy Sherrod, a lawyer from Oakland, California, has been home all week with her 7-year-old son, husband, and 85-year-old mother. She has taken over the administration of the home. It is women who feel exhausted. As a result of this pandemic, many social inequalities and gender disparities have become visible, the majority of which are women who provide their nursing or education services, making them a group at risk. Women''s lives were more affected by the covid-19 pandemic. A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that four out of ten Americans said that their lives had been interrupted "a lot" or "somewhat" by the coronavirus outbreak, with mothers of children under the age of 18 standing out.
But it is women who report feeling exhausted compared to men: they feel more stressed and worried about what will happen. It doesn''t mean that men are not doing anything; in fact, some fathers stay at home full time while their wives are working. Researches have called the work carried out in dwellings "the second shift." Typically when a woman finishes her job, she focuses on household chores like shopping for food, cooking, cleaning, washing dishes, "doing the invisible job." This means planning, coordinating, and anticipating household needs, said Darby Saxbbe Director from the Center for the Changing Family at the University of Southern California.
In a health crisis, women become the first point of contact because they care for sick family members. Even Alina Salganicoff, director of Kaiser''s health policies, pointed out that 77 percent of mothers take their children to medical appointments. Mothers who are alone in caring for children and household chores must figure out how to keep their children entertained. Courtney Hill, a 38-year-old mother in Seattle who works at a marketing company, recruited her daughters to help her.
During this week''s "art class," she had her daughters make posters that said, "STOP: Mom is on a call." "You know, you have to find a sense of humor," said Jacquelyn Vaughn, 37, who works in Human Resources for a social services organization in Chicago and is the mother of an 11-year-old daughter. As a single mother, she is working from home as much as she can, but without the regular help from her mother, who is at high risk because of her age, "We are doing our best," Vaughn said. "As long as Wi-Fi continues to work and the snacks don''t run out, I think we''ll be fine."
(María José Pardo)