Close to half of women are feeling more anxious, depressed, isolated, overworked or ill because of increased unpaid care work caused by the pandemic – Oxfam survey

Forty-three percent of women surveyed across five countries reported feeling more anxious, depressed, isolated, overworked, or ill because they are having to shoulder even more unpaid care work as a result of the coronavirus crisis, said Oxfam today. 

The polling shows that while men have also taken on more care work during the pandemic, the care workload continues to fall disproportionately on women – particularly women from ethnic and racial minorities, those living in poverty and in communities without access to basic infrastructure and services. Oxfam is challenging men to do more ahead of Father’s Day which is being celebrated on Sunday in the survey countries.  

A total of 6,385 women and men were surveyed several weeks into a pandemic that  has made millions sick and led to the closure of schools, nurseries, and support services. Three national polls were conducted in the US, UK, and Canada, together with two  surveys in poor urban communities in the Philippines and informal settlements in Kenya. The results showed: 

Over half of the women surveyed reported spending more hours on tasks such as cooking, washing, cleaning, and caring for children and family members since the pandemic began.  

Over half of the men surveyed also said their unpaid care workload had increased but the polling revealed that men and women have very different views of how fairly care work is shared. For example, in the US, two-thirds (66%) of men report that they are cooking and cleaning as much as or more than women are, but only one-third (35%) of women agree. Before the pandemic women were already doing 12.5 billion hours of unpaid care work every day, three times more than men.  

Single mothers, women living in poverty, and ethnic and racial minorities reported the largest increase in unpaid care work.  

In urban poor and marginalised communities in the Philippines, single mothers and those living in poverty reported spending over five hours more a day on unpaid care work during the pandemic. In the US, an average of 75 percent of Black or African American, Asian, Hispanic or Latino/a respondents reported increases in their daily care workloads, compared to 57 percent of White respondents.  

43 percent of the 3,558 women surveyed reported suffering more anxiety, depression, lack of rest and sleep and physical illnesses because of increased unpaid care work caused by the pandemic. 

26 percent of women surveyed in Nairobi’s informal settlements said they have been physically unwell, been unable to get enough rest, or were feeling stressed and anxious because of increased care responsibilities. In Britain, 33 percent of women reported higher levels of stress and anxiety due to increased care workload– rising to 43 percent for female essential workers. 

Women living in poverty and ethnic and racial minorities were more likely to suffer economically because of increased unpaid care responsibilities.  

42% percent of women surveyed in Nairobi’s informal settlements said they were unable to do their usual paid work because of increased care commitments. In Canada, Aboriginal respondents were three times as likely as White respondents to say that they have had to give up looking for paid work as a result of increased care responsibilities.  

 Mar Moreno, Oxfam’s Gender Justice Director said: 

“The reality is the pandemic is making existing inequalities much worse. If you are a woman – and especially if you are living in poverty, a single mother, or from an ethnic or racial minority – you are more likely to be spending many more hours cooking, cleaning, shopping and caring for your family at the expense of your own health and wellbeing.”  

Women are responsible for a disproportionate amount of care work in every country across the globe because of a lack of investment in public services, a labour market that ignores people’s care needs, and harmful stereotypes that consider care work to be women’s work and less skilled or valuable than paid work.  

Women living in poverty and those from marginalised communities spend more time on care work because they have less access to labour saving devices, public services such as healthcare, or infrastructure such as water or electricity. 

In the US and Canada, families and women from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds contend with socio-economic inequalities linked to structural racism, that can make it more difficult to access childcare, health and support services. In the US, Asian, Hispanic or Latino/a, Black or African American respondents were also more likely to report that they live with elderly or unwell people requiring regular care or assistance. 

“The coronavirus has highlighted the tremendous importance of care work for healthy individuals, societies and economies. This must not be forgotten as we rebuild after the pandemic,” added Moreno.  

“Women and men must work together to challenge the norms and stereotypes that prevent care work being shared equally.  Governments also have a clear role to play in building more equal feminist economies that support men and women care givers through paid sick, family and medical leave from work, and investment in public services. This will have a massive impact on our individual and collective wellbeing,” said Moreno.