NI women tell how they’re struggling to balance work and home
Ireland risks losing decades of progress around gender equality in the workplace due to the coronavirus pandemic, experts say.
The Equality Commission, networking organisation Women in Business and economists today warn that during the crisis, a lack of childcare for the children of working mothers has increased the risk of pushing society back to the 1950s.
Research into the effects of lockdown by Queen’s University’s School of Psychology points to women facing “burnout”.
Economist Maureen O’reilly said the Northern Ireland labour force survey had already reflected the departure of women from the workforce.
“The first signs of labour market impact from the Covid-19 crisis suggests that women are making up a larger share of both the fall in jobs but also the rise in economic inactivity — that is people who aren’t in a job nor are actively looking for one,” she said. “This is worrying, because almost a third of women aren’t active in Northern Ireland’s labour market already; looking after family/home being the main reason.
“We need to make sure this crisis doesn’t take women out of the labour market who want to work, by understanding and addressing any barriers they face, childcare being an obvious one.”
Writing in The Times last week, columnist Alice Thomson said women need to be able to go back to work and have their voices heard — and suggested within government would be a good start.
Calling for more female influence among the decision makers at Downing Street, she noted how, when Boris Johnson was hospitalised in April, four men shared his brief.
Nor did childcare feature in Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s minibudget earlier this month.
Roseann Kelly, chief executive of Women in Business, said many of the women entrepreneurs making up her membership had seen their business and income stop. Even when work was available for members, they were unable to accept it due to childcare availability issues.
PARENTS are being put in an “impossible position” over a return to offices due to a lack of childcare support, the Government has been told.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer( right) issued the warning af
Mrs Kelly said she feared that with schools likely to only partially reopen — and childcare facilities facing an uncertain future as the need for social distancing affected their financial viability — mothers might again have to cut back on work commitments to take care of children.
“If our government is really genuine about diversity and the importance of it to the economy, they, and employers, really need to look at subsidising childcare,” she said. “Things could go back to the 1950s, where women have to be at home looking after CHILNORTHERN ter Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced an end to the Government’s “stay at home” messaging.
On Friday Mr Johnson said that from August 1, employers would have the discretion to decide how staff could work safely, whether from home or in offices, in consultation with workers. dren as there were no facilities for childcare.
“It could very easily slip back for women if they are working from home or having to go parttime — all of those unconscious bias and barriers will be accentuated.”
Queen’s University lecturer Dr Ioana Latu said research has uncovered evidence of pressure on women as they juggled working from home and caring for children, including home-schooling.
Dr Latu, an assistant professor, said that a crisis such as a pandemic tended to make existing
However, Sir Keir said that parents would be penalised due to no extra help being provided for families over the summer holidays.
He said: “We all want society to get moving again, but it reinequalities worse.
She said: “In a pilot study on the general population, initial findings show that both men and women spent less time working during the pandemic than before it, but women spent more time on caregiving responsibilities whereas men spent more time on hobbies.
“Also, a larger model showed that spending more time on housework, especially for women, and caregiving responsibilities — for both men and women in this case — led to greater work/family conflict which in quires a clear plan and national leadership from the Government.
“Despite ordering millions of parents back to the office, the Prime Minister has refused to provide any extra help for turn led to more burnout.
“In turn, burnout led to lower career outcomes such as weaker career progression intentions, lower career self-efficacy, and lower career aspirations.”
The pandemic has brought many anxieties to the fore for parents, particularly working mothers.
The Equality Commission said that of the Covid-19-related sex discrimination enquiries it has received, half related to childcare issues. These have included employees being asked to return to work where there was no childcare families, penalising parents by putting them in an impossible position.”
Mr Starmer continued: “Parents got a back-to-work notice on Friday just as the summer holidays began.
“But they got no support for structured activities, no summer catch-up schemes, and no support available, and employers refusing furlough or working from home requests to accommodate childcare.
Pregnant employees have also contacted the Equality Commission with concerns around being required to attend the workplace where the employee feels it is unsafe to do so, and where they have had a request to be furloughed refused.
Some who have been returning from maternity leave have said that while colleagues were given an option to work from home at the start of the pandemic, they themselves are now being asked to come in.
In conversations with mothers about the future of their working lives, one woman told the Belfast Telegraph that she feared that if gaps in childcare persist even after schools return, women could be at greater risk of redundancy because of the assumption that full-time hours will no longer suit them.
Children — apart from those of key workers — have been schooled at home since the pandemic due to the closure of schools. Creches and other childcare facilities have been also closed, leaving working parents, whose jobs have continued uninterrupted during the crisis, facing the pressure of combining looking after their children while also working.
Roisin Mallon, a senior policy officer at the Equality Commission, said it has been calling for a gender pay strategy from the Executive, which would require large public sector and private and voluntary sector employers to publish information on gender pay gaps.
“The lack of childcare provision impacts women disproportionally and lone parents (who are predominately women) are likely to be particularly affected,” she explained. “Further, for some employees there may now be a need for new or modified flexible working arrangements due to changes in circumstances.”
Return to work putting parents in an impossible position: Starmer
for a childcare sector on its knees. If we are going to reopen our society and economy safely and successfully, we need the public to have confidence in the Government’s advice, we need test, track and trace to be working properly, and we need proper support for children to learn and for parents to get back to work.”