Image of a family around a table via The Atlantic article “The Coronavirus Is a Disaster for Feminism”
The coronavirus has put the world at a standstill. Yet, some people are more affected than others. As Helen Lewis points out in her article “The Coronavirus Is a Disaster for Feminism”, “across the world, women’s independence [is] a silent victim of the pandemic.” She explains that during pandemics, because they enhance inequality and require a lot of care, women generally have to put their lives and jobs on hold. This is because of the social norms of women as housewives, the gender pay gaps that make it more financially economical for women to quit their jobs out of necessity rather than men, and the flexibility that women tend to have between their work and home lives. When discussing COVID-19, Lewis states, “dual-income couples might suddenly find themselves living like their grandparents, one homemaker and one breadwinner.”
Yet, it is important to note that the gender divides that are being amplified by the coronavirus pandemic date back much further than our grandparents the 1950s. Our societies have a long past of reducing women to homemakers and care-givers. In her work “Sex and Gender in Paleoanthropology,” Lori D. Hager discusses these tropes. She unpacks terms such as “Man the Hunter” and “Women the Gatherer,” showing how both history and science have been used to box women into less favorable positions in society and in domestic fields (Hager 3). In the past, women were often seen as naturally lesser than men, and our society has a tendency to accept “statements based on stereotypes and/or preconceived notions about our past, especially as they relate to people today” (Hager 9).
When looking at our current pay gaps and general attitudes towards women, Hager’s point is crystallized. In a way, it is a cycle. We feed off of stereotypes of the past and force them onto the present which simultaneously reinforces their validity in both the past and present. Our social structures and notions about women put women at huge disadvantages during normal life. They have all throughout history and, in her article, Lewis explains that these inequalities are only heightened during pandemics. Therefore, we are at a moment when understanding the structure of our society and its basis in gender roles that date back to prehistory is critical. The stereotypes of women in the past are affecting the lives of women in the present whether we agree with them or not. The way we view the past is representative of how our society functions today.
Works Cited
Raziuddin, Arsh. “A Family Together at a Table .” The Atlantic, 1 Apr. 2020, http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/03/feminism-womens-rights-coronavirus-covid19/608302/.
Lewis, Helen. “The Coronavirus Is a Disaster for Feminism.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 1 Apr. 2020, http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/03/feminism-womens-rights-coronavirus-covid19/608302/.
Hager, Lori D. Sex and Gender in Paleoanthropology.
The Museum of Modern Pasts 