{"id":28028,"date":"2021-03-08T11:55:34","date_gmt":"2021-03-08T11:55:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=28028"},"modified":"2021-03-11T09:42:14","modified_gmt":"2021-03-11T09:42:14","slug":"women-under-massive-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=28028","title":{"rendered":"Women under ‘massive pressure’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The global coronavirus pandemic has spared no one \u00e2\u20ac\u201c even for those who have not had the virus, every single one of us has been touched by the pandemic\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wider social and economic effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in a world plagued by entrenched inequalities, some will have borne the brunt of the pandemic burden more than others. On International Women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Day today (March 8), we look at the disproportionate impact that pandemic has had on women, which, as the Commons Women and Equalities Select Committee recently highlighted, \u00e2\u20ac\u015brisks turning back the clock on gender equality\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February, the Committee published a report about the pandemic\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gendered economic impact.<\/a> The Committee highlighted that the pandemic has exacerbated existing inequalities for women as whole, and especially for pregnant women, new mothers, the self-employed, women claiming benefits and those working in the professional childcare sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Caring responsibilities always land on women’s doorsteps’<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a single mother working in the childcare sector and claiming Universal Credit, Unite Registered Childminders (RCM) branch<\/a> secretary Caroline Rice has keenly felt the reality of the pandemic\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gendered impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWomen are under such massive pressure right now and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s down to the fact that caring responsibilities almost always land on women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s doorsteps,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she told UniteLive. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bHomeschooling has been especially difficult, especially for single parents, who are almost all women. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re now both educators and workers. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had to step up for our children while also having to manage a household on a reduced income, whether because we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re on furlough, or we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re self-employed like I am and have seen a drop in their finances from lack of demand.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Caroline said that homeschooling has a put a strain on the relationship with her young daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bShe wants me to be mummy but mummy has to step up to be teacher too,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Caroline explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because registered childminders in Northern Ireland are now considered key workers under the current lockdown, Caroline was given the option to send her child to school when schools were otherwise shut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI wanted her to stay home but I could see the effect it was having on her \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that there would be a risk of serious separation anxiety when she did have to go back to school since we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been together all the time, so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d opted to send her in two days a week. The whole situation has been hard on both of us.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Juggling homeschooling and household finances has been especially tough, Caroline noted. After a significant drop in her income from falling demand for childminders amid the pandemic, Caroline began claiming Universal Credit in August. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She and millions like her have only ever known Universal Credit to include the extra \u00c2\u014120 per week introduced as an emergency measure last March. If the extra \u00c2\u014120 a week is axed later this year as planned, Caroline said she would struggle to cope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI really don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know how I would manage if the \u00c2\u014120 a week were taken away \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nearly \u00c2\u014190 every payment term. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve cut all our outgoings as much as we can and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to the point where we simply can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t cut anymore. We just barely get by every month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI need my car for work. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stop paying my rent or stop eating. And we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve already cut our TV licence so the only thing left I can cut is broadband which we need for homeschooling and schooling in general. If I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t find anything to cut back on then the debts that I already have are never going to be paid and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just going to grow and grow and grow.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098No time to look after ourselves\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Caroline is not alone among women who have seen their incomes drop amid the pandemic \u00e2\u20ac\u201c now dubbed a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098she-cession\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s incomes have declined by nearly 13 per cent on average over the last year, double the rate of men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s income reduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In London alone, nearly half of all women \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 48 per cent \u00e2\u20ac\u201c reported a decline in their disposable income in January, while men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s incomes in the capital in January held steady, according to a report from the Centre for London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, an analysis from Unite found that mothers have been 47 per cent more likely to lose their jobs than fathers, are more likely to be furloughed and more than 50 per cent more likely to have their hours cut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even for those women whose hours or incomes have not dropped throughout the pandemic, the burden of caring responsibilities has still fallen disproportionately on women, which has taken a massive mental health toll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A major new study from the University of Sheffield<\/a> looked at healthcare workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 mental health during the pandemic and found that surprisingly, age did not have an effect on healthcare staff\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s stress levels, despite older people being at much greater risk of becoming severely ill or dying from exposure to coronavirus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, the major \u00e2\u20ac\u0098risk factor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 for stress among healthcare workers was their gender \u00e2\u20ac\u201c women in healthcare were much more likely to be mentally distressed amid the pandemic than their male counterparts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Doctors in Unite (DiU) chair and GP Dr Jackie Applebee, this finding was not surprising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSo many healthcare workers, especially in hospitals, have had very traumatic experiences fighting the Covid pandemic, witnessing so many people sick and dying,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bMany of them, both men and women, have suffered PTSD from that experience \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but for women healthcare workers to have gone through that and then also be expected to juggle things at home \u00e2\u20ac\u201c there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s absolutely no time to look after themselves.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAnd if they do take time to look after themselves, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re likely feeling guilty \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re thinking, \u00e2\u20ac\u0098I should be at work or I should be with my kids, or helping my elderly parents who are shielding.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a GP, Dr Applebee has seen first-hand the increasing mental health toll on both men and women in the last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been getting so many more patients phoning up saying they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re stressed \u00e2\u20ac\u201c both men and women but especially women,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bFor a lot of women, they haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t felt this way before so they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t recognise it. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re saying \u00e2\u20ac\u0098I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wrong with me\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. Or they think \u00e2\u20ac\u0098I should be able to cope with this\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe key is just validating their feelings, telling them no, what you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re dealing with is a huge amount to cope with and that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing wrong with you \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the pandemic and the unprecedented thing that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happening to us all.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098There needs to be a big push for childcare\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of their report on the gendered impact of the pandemic, the Women and Equalities Select Committee made a number of recommendations, including more government support for the childcare sector, more targeted support for the self-employed, maintaining the Universal Credit uplift, and increasing statutory sick pay, among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Committee has also called for investment in a post-pandemic recovery that takes into consideration jobs and training for women. They expressed concern that far too much investment is geared towards sectors that are male-dominated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Caroline wholeheartedly agrees, especially on the pressing need for greater childcare sector support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere needs to be a big push for childcare,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re seeing all this money being pushed into getting the economy going again. But women can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go to work if they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have childcare \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that simple.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Northern Ireland where Caroline lives, support for childcare is especially lacking \u00e2\u20ac\u201c in England, the government funds a certain number of childcare hours for young children but in Northern Ireland, families get no support. An appeal for a childcare strategy in Northern Ireland was promised, but more than five years later, families are still waiting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf we as childcare providers don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get the support we need and we have to close our doors then that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s us unemployed and their parents, women especially, who can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go to work. Even in two-parent households, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s often the woman who is paid less, who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s had to take the cut in hours so the obvious person to stay home is the lower-earner, the woman.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Caroline also highlighted the need to empower and support women to train and learn so they can improve their career prospects.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to be on the benefits system; I want to better myself, but because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m on Universal Credit, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m constantly being pressured into finding a 40-hour job, and as a single parent I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t train. I just don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have the time. Being given the time and resources to take on training opportunities is absolutely vital for single mums especially.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Government Covid failures<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Applebee feels that the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s failures in getting to grips with the Covid pandemic have had a direct impact on both women health care workers and women in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf the government had listened to us healthcare workers from the beginning \u00e2\u20ac\u201c had listened to us about PPE; about sorting Test and Trace through local public health teams instead of a national privatised system run by Serco; about supporting people to self-isolate through increasing statutory sick pay, then we wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be in this position,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she told UniteLive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d have done what we had called for then they could have really suppressed the virus a lot more than they have. That in itself would have taken the pressure off all healthcare workers including women because there wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have been so much Covid to deal with in the first place.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added that low-paid women in particular are bearing the brunt of the pandemic\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gendered impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTake hospital cleaners \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re low-paid, usually employed by agencies on zero-hours contracts and are all almost exclusively women,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Dr Applebee explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bMany tend to live in multigenerational households, either caring for elderly parents and\/or relying on parents for childcare. They can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t afford to self-isolate if they need to \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have to choose between making ends meet and putting their colleagues at risk. This is an unfair choice and why an increase in statutory sick pay is so important for all women but especially low-paid women.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098We need to hold this government to account\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Above all, Caroline notes, women need to be listened to.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe people in power are not listening to women, but then again when the government is mostly made up of men, maybe it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not surprising,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWomen are the backbone of the household, of children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s care and education and at the minute, all that stress and pressure is falling on women. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not appreciated and not valued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWomen have to constantly fight and shout to be heard \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and then when we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re fighting to be heard, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re told that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re being aggressive. But we have no other choice \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we have to shout or else no one will listen to us.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite national officer for women and equalities Siobhan Endean slammed the government as \u00e2\u20ac\u0098actively anti-women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bCovid-19 has exposed not just the deep wealth divide in this country, but just how inadequate are the rights and protections workers have in this country, with women and BAEM workers hit hardest and most vulnerable to poverty,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she wrote in a comment piece today (March 8).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bPolicies that supercharge inequalities hit women and families hardest, which we see in the impact of the five-week wait for UC, which plunges claimants into instant poverty and forces them to turn to foodbanks.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Endean highlighted the role Unite has played in fighting for women amid the pandemic, and said the trade union movement as a whole has an important part to play to counter the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on women.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOn this International Women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Day, women trade unionists should be leading union negotiations for a fair pay rise and organising industrial action to resist the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s detested key worker pay freeze,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe must organise to hold this government to account and demand a strategy that reflects the priorities of working-class women.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can read Siobhan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s full comment piece here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can also read Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s equality briefing for reps<\/a> about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on women, and how reps can fight for their women members in the workplace to ensure they get a fair deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Hajera Blagg<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The global coronavirus pandemic has spared no one \u00e2\u20ac\u201c even for those who have not had the virus, every single one of us has been touched by the pandemic\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wider social and economic effects. But in a world plagued by entrenched inequalities, some will have borne the brunt of the pandemic burden more than others. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22932,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1308,17],"tags":[1337,1295,379,259,209],"wps_subtitle":"On International Women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Day, UniteLIVE investigates the disproportionate impact of the Covid pandemic on women","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28028"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28028"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28072,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28028\/revisions\/28072"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}