Journal 4 by Mariah

 

JOURNAL 4

During the COVID-19 Pandemic men are doing more at home, in most households the division of housework and childcare has become more equal.

By looking at the statement, the equality of household to be shared by both genders indeed great changes to be count during this pandemic at least. This is because it shows that both women and men play each other roles in living under the same roof. I believe anyone who lives in a home generates mess as part of going through the day, which refers to not only women, but men should be responsible for keeping things clean. Any household involving multiple people requires a division of responsibility. It is in the same league as dividing simple tasks such as laundry, dirty dishes, trash that accumulates in the trash cans, changing baby diapers and more. All these divisions of tasks during quarantine carry out from both genders is indeed a good practice to "bloom" the house together. Below discussed to support on three personal reasons on why it is a great change to be count during this pandemic.

Firstly, during this pandemic, when tasks are divided, it shows that not only responsibility includes running a household being applied fairly, but also household skills from both gender are being practised together. This is because, not all women are inherently better at cleaning, cooking, and laundry. Like any other workloads, those are learned skills that any gender, including men have to hop on as well. Hence during such pandemic, when there has the division in a household, it means that both women and men are practically sharing & improving skills that are technically complete to lessen the burden of each other. If both are good at chores, they could share the skills in building a positive environment. However, if women might be good at cooking but not cleaning, so the men could lend their hand to clean around the house, and vice versa. Because after all, marriage is not always about to give and take, especially during this pandemic era. This is supported by Gross (2020) which mentioned Schulte, the director of the Better Life Lab, a work-life, gender equity that families aren't monolithic and should not be treated as such. She says the pandemic has created an opportunity to start a dialogue about the distribution of household tasks. Therefore, this illustrates that both genders must continually give, and this is one of those areas where, as a man, they need to step up, without being asked to help out.

 

Furthermore, my viewpoint towards the statement is, it shows that both genders being able to pick up the slack without whining or keeping score in the midst of pandemic. It depicts to no matter what both do for a living, and how hassle it is to cope with covid-19, it is still their home and as such, the one that takes care of it, owns it. No gender should be exempt from contributing to the household effort due to sexuality in these crisis times. Because the truth, household responsibility has less to do with gender, instead, more to do with reasonable responsibility sharing. Pandemic especially, people are mentally drained due to long days of being stuck at home. Being equally balanced in taking care of the home is the least effort for men to lessen the stress as women have carry a lot already even before pandemic. As supported by Brenan (2020), “planning family activities is the only task that is reported as being shared equally by a majority, 52%. In households that don't share the job, women are more likely to be responsible (37%) than are men (10%)." Thus, when men are lending their hand with zero arguments during these critical times, it shows that they show some empathy to the partner, and they acknowledge that it always takes two to build a harmonious, less-hassle and fruitful home.

 

Lastly, looking at the statement, it could be if the actions are practically revolving forward, it means that both genders understand that new norms happened for both genders to deal with things equally. Understanding gender cues and sharing similarities is also indeed life-changing if both of them are equally divided. For example, as the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that were asked for certain employees to work from home, it does not gives an excuse to not chip in helping the wives, and it also does not mean the wives should force men to jump into the bandwagon and do some chores. However, it is rather a chance for the two to understand new norms happen for them to deal with things, including understanding gender cues in a household equally. Applying the concept of understanding each other is still critical as a sign of empathy to the other partner. The one who cannot juggle full time with house chores needs to acknowledge their responsibility to not let the other partner be fully-handed with tasks alone by thinking when and how to lend a hand. Similar to office hours, it is not about who clock off earlier gets to rest and stop doing chores, it is about how both know when to clock off from task together. As a result, both partners will somehow know how to share their domestic life where appropriate.

 

Therefore, in my point of view to the statement would be, I might say it is a good interchange as pandemic pulls off both genders in a household to do work together, and should be a daily continue practice proven that not only responsibility includes running a household being applied fairly, but also household skills from both genders are being practised together. It also shows that both genders being able to pick up the slack without whining or keeping score in the midst of a pandemic as well as both genders understand that new norms happened for both genders to deal with things equally. I cannot deny the fact that every household will be different as to the division of labour, but there is no excuse for anyone, men especially, to say they should not have household responsibilities. This is because keeping the house organized is not as easy as it sounds. Men need to pitch in and help their wives as a household after all is not sole responsibility, it is a shared responsibility instead.

 

 

REFERENCES:

 

Gross, T. (2020, May 21). NPR Cookie Consent and Choices. NPR News. https://choice.npr.org/index.html?origin=https://www.npr.org/2020/05/21/860091230/pandemic-makes-evident-grotesque-gender-inequality-in-household-work

 

Brenan, B. M. (2020, January 29). Women Still Handle Main Household Tasks in U.S. GallupNews. https://news.gallup.com/poll/283979/women-handle-main-household-tasks.aspx