During the pandemic emergency, the working mothers paid a very high price in terms of psychophysical health. Why? And what is it possible to do?
The New York Times has recently dedicated a series of articles to difficult condition of working mothers in the pandemic emergency. It is certainly not the only contribution on this issue: the media from all over the world, in fact, have emphasized a longtime problembut now emerged with even greater clarity, due to the changed conditions imposed by the spread of Covid-19. The weight of the family management of this emergency has unloaded above all on women, and the working mothers, in particular, have experienced serious repercussions on their working situation and psychophysical health.
The numbers in Italy
The most recent Istat data highlight how the situation in our country is deeply far from the much desired gender equalitywidely used as a political slogan, but often ignored in concrete measures. In the month of December 2020, in which we would have expected an increase in fixed -term contracts in correspondence with the holidays, 101 thousand jobs were lost, 99 thousand of which were occupied by women (98%). From December 2019 to December 2020 there were 444 thousand, 312 thousand of women were placed in female employment (70%).
Already the Higher Institute of Health, some time ago, of the surveys made regarding the impact of the emergency on psychophysical health, underlining that a study coordinated by the Department of Mental Health of the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, in which the ISS had participated, highlighted some consequences of Lockdown, during which which The female population, in particular, had experienced an increase in levels of anxiety, depression and symptoms related to stress.
Why does it happen?
When we talk about workers with children, testimonies and studies that are gradually accumulating they show an alarming situation. Many women reported have or had problems in family managementfor example, connected to the difficulties experienced by their children in the dimension of reduced sociability of confinement or in distance teaching, with relative increase, in children and young people, of stress events and various types of disorders. To these problems added the working difficulties, whether the work was in presence whether it was at a distance.
In a purely theoretical line, the load of the management of such a difficult world situation should have fallen fairly to fall on men and women, but but Obviously our society is still far from the goal of equalityAs the many research on the gender gap are shown in relation to employment, salary, career advancement, reconciliation of work with family management and commitments relating to the care of children and elderly and in difficulty.
The current emergency has clearly demonstrated how, when some element of the social network that in “normal” times allows a more or less effective organization, All the weight is unloaded inexorably on the shoulders of women.
The weight of non -equal culture
At the basis of the phenomenon contributes a double mechanism whose two elements strengthen each other, creating those that researchers, with a very effective metaphor, call “gender cages“(1). Culture, still imbued with male and patriarchal stereotypes, first of all creates the conditions because a commitment is continually demanded and, above all, a greater mental load than that of menbuilding scientifically unfounded myths, such as that of the propensity of women to be by nature and without particular effort multitasking. The exaltation of women’s ability – often mothers – to do everything without allowing themselves a moment of rest and without sacrificing any aspects often finds itself also in books, articles and films, which have contributed to strengthening the stereotype.
The external conditioning is then easily transformed into self -contentmentfor which there are many, in fact, intimately convinced women who ever deal with everything without ever resting, and supervising even the work and negligence of others, is their specific task, which it is not possible to delegate. French blogger and cartoonist Emma in her book highlighted it very clearly in her book It was enough to ask! 10 Stories of daily feminism (2), published in Italy by Laterza, in which we focus on the finger on the aspect, often little considered, of thePlanning and control activities of all family dynamicsa task that is often the exclusive prerogative of women and that falls within the concept of “mental load”.
The centrality of education
If, on the one hand, we can only hope that the national and international surveys are inspiration for a series of measures that support women and favor gender equality in this difficult moment, A substantial turning point is possible only starting from a profound social changein which family education and school education play a substantial role.
It is not easy to resist the sirens of marketing, which continue to force many girls within the fences that are difficult to break down. Even today, the clothing, accessories and toys departments seem to show a world in which the separation between objects, colors, clothes intended for boys and girls is extremely evident and in which the existence of people who have a non -binary gender identity is totally ignored.
Research on school textbooks, for example those carried out by Irene Biemmi (3), highlight The narrowness of the boundaries of the universe proposed to the girlsrelegated to passive and “decorative” roles, which do not allow them to express their identity and aspirations in a free and spontaneous way.
In recent times, the attention of publishers and school operators to the theme of equality, as well as that of the production houses of cartoons and films for children, has also been greater, too If we are still at the beginning of a path to a goal that requires a rapid and effective commitment of all peoplein all roles, educators and parents included.
