Illustration of a Father Doing Homework with His Daughter.
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Pixabay
This Monday March 8 is the (famous) International Women's Day.
The opportunity to examine the effects of confinements, and more generally of the health crisis, on the distribution of domestic and parental tasks and the mental burden between women and men.
While some men have invested more than before in the education of children and shopping, the large majority of women still assume domestic chores.
Which doesn't mean that nothing changes.
"If they close the schools, I will not see the hell of last spring again".
Does this phrase sound familiar to you?
Maybe you have mothers around you.
It must be said that March-April 2020 has remained in the memory of some as a tunnel where they desperately tried to transform into Shiva (you know, the Hindu god with many arms) to juggle between cooking, conf-call and homework ...
A year after the shock of the first confinement, the threat of confinement without a school still looms.
On the occasion of Women's Rights Day,
20 Minutes
questioned the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the distribution of household chores and on other charges between men and women within the household.
No redistribution during containment
Several studies have looked into a possible redistribution of roles within heterosexual couples during the first confinement.
And they are going in the same direction: this period when the time devoted to cleaning, shopping, cooking, washing up and doing homework literally exploded did not allow a rebalancing ... "Women contributed more than men , says Anne Solar, researcher at the National Institute of Demographic Studies (INED) and co-author of an INSEE report on the subject.
More than half of women spent 2 hours per day on domestic chores (compared to 28% of men), 18% more than 4 hours (compared to 9% of men) and 43% of mothers more than 6 hours (compared to 30% of men). fathers).
Even when women worked outside (we know how much the professions on the front line in the face of Covid-19 are feminized), men did less than they.
We are therefore far from 100% for one… and 50% for everyone.
"A few years ago, we would have found 0% of fathers, we must not forget where we come from", nuance Christine Castelain-Meunier, sociologist at the CNRS and author of
L'instinct paternel *
.
Another example, still in France, with this study co-signed by Hugues Champeaux and Francesca Marchetta, which gave voice to 2,900 women.
“Gender stereotypes are little challenged by this period of confinement,” concludes Hugues Champeaux.
There was no massive redistribution, but minor changes.
In the majority of cases where the two partners telecommute, the men do more shopping and play with the children more than before.
Tasks which become "quasi-leisure", very little connoted on the genre and very visible.
Unsurprisingly, their study finds that an imbalanced division of labor, especially on household and childcare, causes an increase in conflict.
The less visible stains ... but heavy
So much for the tip of the iceberg.
But other less visible constraints, and therefore difficult to objectify, weigh (often) on the shoulders of mothers.
In recent years, and Emma's comic book on mental load, we know more about this concept.
With a porous border between professional and personal life because of teleworking and multiplied domestic tasks, it has not been lightened.
Another subject that is less talked about: the emotional charge (also popularized by an Emma comic), namely the concern for the well-being of others.
The past year has demanded time and availability to call relatives and friends plagued by boredom, loneliness or worry.
Injunctions that can lead straight to burnout.
An Ipsos survey **, published in November 2020 revealed that 79% of women say they are too tired and stressed by everything they do (work, domestic tasks and childcare) against 61% for men.
And 69% say they care a lot about the health of others, but not much about their own health, compared to 54% of men.
A missed appointment?
So nothing has really changed?
“At the start of confinement, we could hear optimistic messages,” recalls the INED researcher.
It's still a period when fathers got involved: 30% of them spent more than 6 hours a day with their children, it's unheard of!
But is it going to stay in the long term?
Research is underway to find out whether teleworking has an effect on the distribution of tasks.
“In this area, changes are very slow,” she recalls.
The participation gap has narrowed in thirty years, but mainly because women do less (cooking, sewing, etc.), not because men do more.
It's hard to imagine how a two-month lockdown period could have made a difference.
"
But according to Christine Castelain-Meunier, this period rhyme for some with a change in behavior.
“Because of their presence, the men realized all the things to do.
It's true that they do less than women, they take less initiative, they do more rewarding things.
But many participated more.
How to explain this dichotomy between testimonies of invested fathers and national statistics which do not change or little?
"With statistical studies, we go little in the shade and we do not detect changes, advance the sociologist.
It is important to destroy the image of a father who does nothing, the younger generations are very attached to equality within the couple.
"
Longer term ?
Will teleworking, if it becomes the norm, allow fathers to invest more?
A recent European study, unveiled by the European Institute for Gender Equality, shows that 'teleworking has also intensified conflicts between work and private life, especially for women with young children. ages 0 to 5.
Although men are taking on more responsibilities than before, the share of women in unpaid work has increased.
"
And yet, Christine Castelain-Meunier does not lose any of her optimism.
For her, there is no doubt that the fatherhood revolution is underway.
“There will perhaps be a reflection on how to organize themselves so that the woman can telework under good conditions.
There is a double awareness of fathers today.
On the one hand, if you don't do more than your father, you have nothing to be proud of.
On the other, there is the moral burden, with concern for the planet, health, and better nutrition.
All this work of redistribution of tasks and loads depends on the ability to communicate within the couple.
A greater presence at home, the absence of transport fatigue can be accompanied by a greater availability for the other.
"
*
The paternal instinct,
plea in favor of new fathers,
Larousse,
September 2019, € 16.
** Survey conducted from August 17 to 31, 2020 among 3,500 nationals of G7 countries, i.e. a representative sample of the national population aged 18 and over.
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