Covid-19 and Women’s Triple Burden: Vignettes from Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Vietnam and Australia
During disease outbreaks, women endure additional burdens associated with paid and unpaid work, often without consideration or the alleviation of other life responsibilities. This paper draws on the concept of the triple burden in theorizing the gender divisions in productive and reproductive work a...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-05-01
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| Series: | Social Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/9/5/87 |
| _version_ | 1797567300434395136 |
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| author | Helen Jaqueline McLaren Karen Rosalind Wong Kieu Nga Nguyen Komalee Nadeeka Damayanthi Mahamadachchi |
| author_facet | Helen Jaqueline McLaren Karen Rosalind Wong Kieu Nga Nguyen Komalee Nadeeka Damayanthi Mahamadachchi |
| author_sort | Helen Jaqueline McLaren |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | During disease outbreaks, women endure additional burdens associated with paid and unpaid work, often without consideration or the alleviation of other life responsibilities. This paper draws on the concept of the triple burden in theorizing the gender divisions in productive and reproductive work and community activities in the context of disaster. Events that include famine, war, natural disaster or disease outbreak are all well documented as increasing women’s vulnerability to a worsening of gendered burdens. In the case of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, this is no different. Focussing on Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Vietnam and Australia, the four vignettes in this paper serve to highlight the intersections between Covid-19 and gendered burdens, particularly in frontline work, unpaid care work and community activities. While pre-disaster gender burdens are well established as strong, our analysis during the early months of the pandemic indicates that women’s burdens are escalating. We estimate that women will endure a worsening of their burdens until the pandemic is well under control, and for a long time after. Public policy and health efforts have not sufficiently acknowledged the issues concerned with the associations between gender and disease outbreaks. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T19:39:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8aff70ecec844dc28cd8d691620f89b7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-0760 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T19:39:50Z |
| publishDate | 2020-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Social Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-8aff70ecec844dc28cd8d691620f89b72023-11-20T01:20:03ZengMDPI AGSocial Sciences2076-07602020-05-01958710.3390/socsci9050087Covid-19 and Women’s Triple Burden: Vignettes from Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Vietnam and AustraliaHelen Jaqueline McLaren0Karen Rosalind Wong1Kieu Nga Nguyen2Komalee Nadeeka Damayanthi Mahamadachchi3College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University, Bedford Park 5042, AustraliaCollege of Business, Government and Law, Flinders University, Bedford Park 5042, AustraliaCollege of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University, Bedford Park 5042, AustraliaCollege of Business, Government and Law, Flinders University, Bedford Park 5042, AustraliaDuring disease outbreaks, women endure additional burdens associated with paid and unpaid work, often without consideration or the alleviation of other life responsibilities. This paper draws on the concept of the triple burden in theorizing the gender divisions in productive and reproductive work and community activities in the context of disaster. Events that include famine, war, natural disaster or disease outbreak are all well documented as increasing women’s vulnerability to a worsening of gendered burdens. In the case of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, this is no different. Focussing on Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Vietnam and Australia, the four vignettes in this paper serve to highlight the intersections between Covid-19 and gendered burdens, particularly in frontline work, unpaid care work and community activities. While pre-disaster gender burdens are well established as strong, our analysis during the early months of the pandemic indicates that women’s burdens are escalating. We estimate that women will endure a worsening of their burdens until the pandemic is well under control, and for a long time after. Public policy and health efforts have not sufficiently acknowledged the issues concerned with the associations between gender and disease outbreaks.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/9/5/87Covid-19coronavirusdisease outbreakwomengenderproductive work |
| spellingShingle | Helen Jaqueline McLaren Karen Rosalind Wong Kieu Nga Nguyen Komalee Nadeeka Damayanthi Mahamadachchi Covid-19 and Women’s Triple Burden: Vignettes from Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Vietnam and Australia Social Sciences Covid-19 coronavirus disease outbreak women gender productive work |
| title | Covid-19 and Women’s Triple Burden: Vignettes from Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Vietnam and Australia |
| title_full | Covid-19 and Women’s Triple Burden: Vignettes from Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Vietnam and Australia |
| title_fullStr | Covid-19 and Women’s Triple Burden: Vignettes from Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Vietnam and Australia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Covid-19 and Women’s Triple Burden: Vignettes from Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Vietnam and Australia |
| title_short | Covid-19 and Women’s Triple Burden: Vignettes from Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Vietnam and Australia |
| title_sort | covid 19 and women s triple burden vignettes from sri lanka malaysia vietnam and australia |
| topic | Covid-19 coronavirus disease outbreak women gender productive work |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/9/5/87 |
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