While workloads have mounted in some multigenerational homes, in other families where men are out of work, some women are pushing back on the burden foisted on them alone. The relentless realities of the pandemic – lockdowns, job losses, lost child care – have intensified many women’s day-to-day struggle. Still, some of the women felt guilty for even contemplating such breaks: “Is it okay to take 15 minutes and just sit in my car and do nothing?” they asked. One woman suggested a helpful alibi: Tell your family you got stuck in traffic. Sitting in their vehicles, some sipped coffees or talked to friends on the phone others enjoyed the silence.
While shopping for groceries or filling up their gas tanks, they’d sneak an extra 10 or 15 minutes for themselves. Staring down unmanageable, oppressive workloads, several women in the workshop group confessed to taking small escapes – in their cars. Even as women take on long shifts in paid work, old obligations often remain: That they prioritize nurturing family and looking after the home – gruelling domestic labour that’s often taken for granted and rendered invisible. “So how are you supposed to navigate those situations?”įor some Punjabi women in Brampton, the toll of conflicting expectations is steep as they struggle to straddle traditional gender roles from “back home” with their lives in Canada. Pushing back often felt impossible, particularly for women with older relatives who didn’t understand the relatively new concept of working full-time from home: “You can’t necessarily talk back to your elders, especially your in-laws,” Ms.
But really, you’re working from home,” said Ms. “You may be expected to be cooking, cleaning, doing laundry and taking care of children because they think you’re at home. In depth Read more stories from the seriesīoundaries between career and home life had grown especially blurry for attendees living in multigenerational homes, said Jasmeet Chagger, co-founder of Soch Mental Health, the Brampton, Ont.-based organization that hosted the workshop.
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