By Aashish Mishra
Kathmandu Apr. 2: The country is now in its second week of lockdown. And while the closure may have given many men a chance to slow down, relax and may have also reduced their overall work load, it has been the exact opposite for most women.
“While it’s very nice to have everyone home, there is no denying that it increases the work load for us women,” said Malati Kayastha, a homemaker. She enjoys having everyone together and is ecstatic at getting to spend time with her husband and two daughters, but she never seems to be out of the kitchen.
“I feel like I am making tea almost every hour. I also have to make multiple lunches because my husband and children prefer eating different things and at different times,” said Kayastha, describing her routine since the lockdown began, “With the daughters home, the rooms become dirty quickly. So, I have to clean them many times. I do feel exhausted at times.”
The exhaustion is even worse for working women like Junu Maharjan who now have to contend with the added work load at home while also keeping up with her office assignments. “I have to be in front of my laptop from 9 to 6, writing reports, giving presentations and doing everything I would be doing at the office,” Maharjan who works at a website designing company, shared her schedule.
Furthermore, Maharjan is a single mother to her 16-year old son and said that she had to alternate between her office tasks and look after her child. “Normally, he would do his own cooking and washing but these days, he is preparing for his upcoming class XI Board exams so I don’t want to distract him,” she explained.
Aside from her son, Maharjan also has to look after her two aunts who came to visit her last week from Chitwan, but then were unable to return because of the lockdown. “They are very sweet and try not to be a burden, but they are guests and I can’t totally neglect them.”
For professional women, an already hard work-life balance has been made much harder by the lockdown and the ‘work from home’ offices have put in place.
But the pressure comes from more than just work. For Samjhauta Sah, the lockdown has meant a loss of her personal space. With their husband at office and children at school, housewives like Sah could find a moment to breathe, to be alone with their own thoughts and to be themselves.
“But now, that me-time is gone,” Sah said. She loves having her son and her husband around and is so grateful that they are right in front of her eyes during this time of crisis, but at the same time, she also experiences a loss of identity. “I am a wife and mother most of the time. But a few hours during the day was when I got to be myself; a few hours that I no longer have,” she said, sharing that this lack of space and identity was making her enervated.
The lockdown isn’t easy on anyone. But it is taking an additional toll on women, with added chores, more responsibilities and a loss of their personal space. Many of them are also having to work full-time while also literally looking after their families at the same time.