Just as the higher infection and death rates among black and ethnic minority communities reflect the reality of racial oppression in Britain, the disproportionate economic impact on women — who are more likely to have lost their jobs than men, if they are still in work — is evidence of women’s ongoing oppression as a sex.
With more than half believing that women’s equality is in danger of going back to the 1970s at work, at home and in society, according to an exclusive survey.
Patriarchal gender expectations further concentrate women in caring, cleaning and service roles in the labour market.
As children return to school in England, the poll reveals that women have borne the burden of closures, with 70% of mothers with male partners doing all or most of the home schooling.
Three-quarters of women said that during lockdown it was easier for their partner to work uninterrupted, one in five mothers in paid work said they had reduced their working hours to cope with increased childcare, and more than a third said their careers had been affected in a way that was not true for their partner.
The poll also exposes the UK’s domestic care gap, with 73% of respondents saying they did all or most of the laundry, while 62% did the food shopping and 61% did all or most of the cleaning and tidying up. The only domestic areas approaching parity were children’s bath and bedtimes and pet care, while 51% said their partner was the most likely to empty the bins.
“What’s needed is a proper women’s strategy, with specific policies to redress the inequality that’s been triggered by Covid, or we’re at real risk of heading right back to the 1970s with regard to women’s economic power,” said Mumsnet founder Justine Roberts.
