“One Big Juggling Act” – Women’s experiences of lockdown

“Women left feeling exhausted, overwhelmed and undervalued as they tried to balance childcare and homeschooling with work during lockdown” 

A new report from Chwarae Teg has revealed the impact of childcare and home-schooling on women in Wales during lockdown.

A survey conducted by the charity received more than 1,000 responses from women, who shared their experiences of Covid-19 and lockdown. It revealed that for many women responsibility for childcare and homeschooling fell predominantly to them, impacting on their ability to work and on their health and wellbeing.

Gendered assumptions within households and by employers, about who would be responsible for care, inflexible working patterns, a lack of women in decision-making, and policy-making that failed to consider women’s experiences all contributed to the challenges women experienced in lockdown.

The impact of the crisis was not felt evenly. Particular groups of women were at higher risk of both the health and economic impacts of the crisis including single parents, women of colour, women on low incomes and self-employed women.

The report, “One Big Juggling Act”: Childcare and Homeschooling during the First Lockdown, calls for action to ensure that any further lockdowns or tightening of restrictions do not disadvantage women and to address the underlying issues that left women more vulnerable to these negative experiences in the first place.

Chwarae Teg Chief Executive, Cerys Furlong said: 

“The experiences described by women in our report ‘One Big Juggling Act’ will resonate with many of us. Sadly, they are not unexpected. This pandemic has both revealed the extent of gender inequality, and exacerbated it. 

“These difficult experiences are the result of a collective failure to address the root causes of gender inequality, and to ensure that decision-making was responding to women’s needs and experiences. 

“Gender stereotypes mean women are still seen as carers first. We’ve accepted a precarious system of childcare that relies on women’s unpaid work for far too long. Work remains inflexible for many creating tension with other responsibilities at home and too many women entered the pandemic in a financially vulnerable position as a result of poverty, low pay and insecure work.

“As we continue to navigate this pandemic and move towards recovery we must ensure that any further restrictions do not disadvantage women, maintaining access to childcare support wherever possible either through access to informal support networks or access to formal childcare. And we must also ensure diverse teams are involved in decision-making so that women’s experiences and needs are considered. 

“Action will also be needed to address the underlying causes that left women at greater risk during the pandemic. Care must be placed at the heart of our recovery, we need much greater investment in our childcare system, a comprehensive plan to tackle poverty and financial hardship and much greater access to flexible and inclusive work. 

“The pandemic has taught us many lessons. One of the most critical is the cost of inequality. As we recover and rebuild we simply cannot afford for this inequality to continue.”