This blog post was published on Women's Web on 24th April , 2020 as a Featured Post.
India nah, the world is under lock down .And it has affected in myriad ways.And therefore it has obviously influenced kids and especially women as well.
Since everybody has to stay safe by staying indoors at homes, the women of the hose is constantly on her toes.She cleans, cooks, cares, washes, etal. Yes, men do chip in and help .And that is the bare minimum and that too when asked specifically to do so.The kids in the house are no better and yet that's expected .Because, when they see their father and the men in the house laze around, they are going to follow the laid back attitude of the men.
Men seem to believe that while they slogged in offices during pre shutdown days, their wives would snap a finger and housework would get done by itself. Yes, in the pre lockdown days, maids did a part of the housework yet the lady of the house did have to do the remaining part . Men are therefore shocked that women physically do housework ! That is ladies cook, clean, care, wash, etc with their hands , not by snapping fingers ! And since men are at home, they are expected to chip in too .As men pretend to be busy doing nothing, they have to be specially requested to do at least some task around the house. And then , the men do it in such a manner /s that they are never ever asked again to help. A survey regarding the type and quantity of housework done by Indian men is quite revealing . Just that this survey makes it official ! More that 25% women feel that men do not do enough work at the home during shutdown. It follows that post shutdown, they will do no work around the house .And nearly 70% men did admit that housework is tougher than they believed it to be ! Corona lockdown has led to enlightenment ! Not that this enlightenment is going to reduce the burden of housework for ladies in any which way.
And in the midst of the lockdown , there are reports of increased domestic violence. Women are bearing the brunt of this violence followed by children. Many women have nowhere to go and no income of their own. Hence, they are forced to put up with the violent partners . And this lockdown has made it tougher. The men take out all their frustration on their partners as all are at home all the twenty four hours , day in and day out.The National Commission for Women has been flooded with more than twice the number of complaints during the lockdown as compared to those filed before the shutdown.
The victims of domestic violence have been using email and whatsapp texts or text messages to complain about domestic violence as talking on phone gets difficult if not impossible with the abuser being in close proximity. This is different from the pre lockdown period when a majority of the complaints were through the phone calls.
The government has issued a warning that domestic violence will be strictly handled.And yet, with the police being overworked in handling lockdown, it may be difficult for the police to deal with domestic violence. The NGOs working with the police can intervene in matters of domestic violence & ease the lives of women away from domestic violence.
Another downside of this stay at home has been a spike in the number of cases being filed for divorces. Rising divorces are mainly due to domestic violence as also economic downturn which has got aggravated since the lockdown has been en forced to deal with the pandemic. Some couples are consulting lawyers through audio and video calls while others are turning to psychotherapists . Lack of communication and being out of sync is coming to the fore, during the lockdown. Maybe ,counselling can help and if the lockdown continues for some more days, more couples would firm up on separation. In India, women have to fight for their maintenance even after divorce . Divorces begin new problems of more harassment.
Child porn has risen by 100% as per India Child Protection Fund ( ICPF) which works for protection of children & against child trafficking. And many are looking for child porn with violent content. Majority of porn viewers are on Virtual Private Network ( VPN ) to escape Indian government ban on Child Porn .And so, this makes it, extremely difficult to deal with such individuals .For this, more Cyber Crime cells need to be added and more personnel trained to deal with Cyber Crimes.The fact that kids are victims of Porn means that women are more stressed as they need to be more vigilant about their kids .And this is further adding to their woes in this lockdown.
There is some upside for women in this pandemic time. Corona seems to be affecting men more than it infects women. More men are falling prey to Covid 19 than women.Maybe, women are better at handling infections just like they are good in dealing with everything. Maybe, because women have stronger genetic makeup which fights infections in a better manner. Male gender is at risk by Corona and yet, science has always studied the male body.Drug trials and vaccine tests are done keeping the male body as reference .This can later lead to many of the drugs and vaccines being withdrawn because they were never tested to see how they would affect the female bodies. Science needs to treat women fairly so that effective medicines can be made, which will help the whole of the human race not just the male gender.After all , this is the minimum that science can do as a tribute to the discoverer of Corona virus, the scientific pioneer,Ms. June Almeida, a woman who is being acknowledged now, for her iconic work in virology, way back in 1964.
The world over, female heads of State have been able to control the pandemic better than the male heads of state. Taiwan, headed by President Tsai Ing-wen is exporting face masks to other nations .
The Taiwanese President had ordered inspections of all the flights which landed in Taiwan from Wuhan , China when she heard about the virus that was still unknown in December, 2019. A unit was set up to monitor the epidemic and production of personal protection equipment was scaled up .The control was so effective, that USA has asked that Taiwan be given observer status at WHO. Angela Merkel of Germany handled the Corona virus spread so well that Germany had the least number of fatalities in Europe .Similarly, New Zealand's PM, Jacinda Ardern ordered a four week lockdown from March 23.There was large scale testing which limited the number of deaths to nine. And this she did, by banning all tourists though tourism is the biggest revenue generator for her country.
Likewise PMs of Finland, Iceland, Sint Maarten ( all are women ) have taken firm steps of widespread testing and quarantining to control the spread .And they are winning ! It may be argued that these small countries are easy to govern .And yet, small steps lead to bigger things !
And this means, that women need to lead , so that the world is better managed .And more women are needed to make the world healthier and better !
India nah, the world is under lock down .And it has affected in myriad ways.And therefore it has obviously influenced kids and especially women as well.
Since everybody has to stay safe by staying indoors at homes, the women of the hose is constantly on her toes.She cleans, cooks, cares, washes, etal. Yes, men do chip in and help .And that is the bare minimum and that too when asked specifically to do so.The kids in the house are no better and yet that's expected .Because, when they see their father and the men in the house laze around, they are going to follow the laid back attitude of the men.
Men seem to believe that while they slogged in offices during pre shutdown days, their wives would snap a finger and housework would get done by itself. Yes, in the pre lockdown days, maids did a part of the housework yet the lady of the house did have to do the remaining part . Men are therefore shocked that women physically do housework ! That is ladies cook, clean, care, wash, etc with their hands , not by snapping fingers ! And since men are at home, they are expected to chip in too .As men pretend to be busy doing nothing, they have to be specially requested to do at least some task around the house. And then , the men do it in such a manner /s that they are never ever asked again to help. A survey regarding the type and quantity of housework done by Indian men is quite revealing . Just that this survey makes it official ! More that 25% women feel that men do not do enough work at the home during shutdown. It follows that post shutdown, they will do no work around the house .And nearly 70% men did admit that housework is tougher than they believed it to be ! Corona lockdown has led to enlightenment ! Not that this enlightenment is going to reduce the burden of housework for ladies in any which way.
And in the midst of the lockdown , there are reports of increased domestic violence. Women are bearing the brunt of this violence followed by children. Many women have nowhere to go and no income of their own. Hence, they are forced to put up with the violent partners . And this lockdown has made it tougher. The men take out all their frustration on their partners as all are at home all the twenty four hours , day in and day out.The National Commission for Women has been flooded with more than twice the number of complaints during the lockdown as compared to those filed before the shutdown.
The victims of domestic violence have been using email and whatsapp texts or text messages to complain about domestic violence as talking on phone gets difficult if not impossible with the abuser being in close proximity. This is different from the pre lockdown period when a majority of the complaints were through the phone calls.
The government has issued a warning that domestic violence will be strictly handled.And yet, with the police being overworked in handling lockdown, it may be difficult for the police to deal with domestic violence. The NGOs working with the police can intervene in matters of domestic violence & ease the lives of women away from domestic violence.
Another downside of this stay at home has been a spike in the number of cases being filed for divorces. Rising divorces are mainly due to domestic violence as also economic downturn which has got aggravated since the lockdown has been en forced to deal with the pandemic. Some couples are consulting lawyers through audio and video calls while others are turning to psychotherapists . Lack of communication and being out of sync is coming to the fore, during the lockdown. Maybe ,counselling can help and if the lockdown continues for some more days, more couples would firm up on separation. In India, women have to fight for their maintenance even after divorce . Divorces begin new problems of more harassment.
Child porn has risen by 100% as per India Child Protection Fund ( ICPF) which works for protection of children & against child trafficking. And many are looking for child porn with violent content. Majority of porn viewers are on Virtual Private Network ( VPN ) to escape Indian government ban on Child Porn .And so, this makes it, extremely difficult to deal with such individuals .For this, more Cyber Crime cells need to be added and more personnel trained to deal with Cyber Crimes.The fact that kids are victims of Porn means that women are more stressed as they need to be more vigilant about their kids .And this is further adding to their woes in this lockdown.
There is some upside for women in this pandemic time. Corona seems to be affecting men more than it infects women. More men are falling prey to Covid 19 than women.Maybe, women are better at handling infections just like they are good in dealing with everything. Maybe, because women have stronger genetic makeup which fights infections in a better manner. Male gender is at risk by Corona and yet, science has always studied the male body.Drug trials and vaccine tests are done keeping the male body as reference .This can later lead to many of the drugs and vaccines being withdrawn because they were never tested to see how they would affect the female bodies. Science needs to treat women fairly so that effective medicines can be made, which will help the whole of the human race not just the male gender.After all , this is the minimum that science can do as a tribute to the discoverer of Corona virus, the scientific pioneer,Ms. June Almeida, a woman who is being acknowledged now, for her iconic work in virology, way back in 1964.
The world over, female heads of State have been able to control the pandemic better than the male heads of state. Taiwan, headed by President Tsai Ing-wen is exporting face masks to other nations .
The Taiwanese President had ordered inspections of all the flights which landed in Taiwan from Wuhan , China when she heard about the virus that was still unknown in December, 2019. A unit was set up to monitor the epidemic and production of personal protection equipment was scaled up .The control was so effective, that USA has asked that Taiwan be given observer status at WHO. Angela Merkel of Germany handled the Corona virus spread so well that Germany had the least number of fatalities in Europe .Similarly, New Zealand's PM, Jacinda Ardern ordered a four week lockdown from March 23.There was large scale testing which limited the number of deaths to nine. And this she did, by banning all tourists though tourism is the biggest revenue generator for her country.
Likewise PMs of Finland, Iceland, Sint Maarten ( all are women ) have taken firm steps of widespread testing and quarantining to control the spread .And they are winning ! It may be argued that these small countries are easy to govern .And yet, small steps lead to bigger things !
And this means, that women need to lead , so that the world is better managed .And more women are needed to make the world healthier and better !
