GIORGIA lives in Milan. He works for a communications agency. Since the pandemic is in smartworking. He has a son who is in elementary school, struggling with distance learning, and two dogs. The role of mother and that of worker overlap, in the same place and at the same time. Work is rampant, it has no borders. The PC on the table always on, the continuous notifications of emails and messages to be answered, the son who calls from the other room because he cannot find the link to enter the virtual classroom. The meeting is scheduled at the same time as lunch is to be prepared. “I’m tested,” she says over the phone.
Caterina lives in Rome with her husband and three children, one in kindergarten, one in elementary school and one in high school. His parents live in Trentino and he hasn’t seen them since last summer. He has been working in smartworking for a year. Since Lazio became red again, all three children have been taking lessons from home. The husband goes out to work. It is up to her to manage the days between work, childcare and home. “Before I went out to take the little one to kindergarten, on my return I would have a coffee in the bar downstairs with a friend before turning on the PC. Now not even that”.
Women in lockdown, Francesca Fialdini’s questions to psychologist Nicoletta Gava
Gender inequality
Endless tiredness, frustration, anger, anxiety and guilt for not being able to manage everything together. The days that follow one another the same, closed in the house, cohabiting by force, with no space for themselves. The missing planning. Work from home, remote schooling, housekeeping weigh above all on women. Undermining their health.
Smartworking, the risks of work-related stress between children and home
by Valeria Pini
“The pandemic from Covid-19 has made gender disparities dramatically evident in our country and in the rest of the world. Women of all nationalities and cultural backgrounds have undergone a marked reduction in their spaces of freedom and have taken up a mandate that is really difficult to sustain: to be a woman, mother, professional in a world that often considers them the only ones responsible for home and family life “, He says Nicoletta Gava psychologist and psychotherapist of the family and of the couple and lecturer at the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Turin.
Smartworking che stress
Female unemployment record
The disparity is accentuated when work fails. The economic crisis unleashed by the coronavirus is affecting women above all: in December 2020, Istat records, there are 101,000 fewer employees. Of these 99,000 are women. In fact, sectors with a high female employment intensity such as health, assistance, tourism and culture have been affected.
One in two women has seen their economic situation worsen in the last 12 months, according to the survey “The economic condition of women in the era of Covid-19” carried out by Ipsos for WeWorld women. Unemployed mothers with children are worse off: 60% say they have had a reduction of at least 20% in their economic income during the pandemic, which often implies increased dependence. One in two say they are more dependent on family and partner than in the past.
The psychological consequences
A huge load that cannot fail to have psychological implications. Also according to the Ipsos survey, 80% of women declare a devastating impact on their social relationships and 46% on their will to live. 76% saw a negative impact on their desire to make plans for their lives. It is young women (18-24 years; 25-34 years) who report the greatest consequences on mood, while 83% of those aged between 55 and 65 suffer more on the relational front. For 64% of the youngest girls (18-24 years) the pandemic had a strongly negative impact also on their self-esteem.
Covid, the other pandemic: the virus has brought 1 million new cases of mental distress
by Valeria Pini
As emerged from the XXII national congress of the Italian Society of NeuroPsicoPharmacology it is estimated that there will be at least 150,000 new cases of depression due to pandemic unemployment and the situation could worsen because the conditions of health, emotional and social fragility that are being created multiply the negative consequences on psychophysical well-being. Women, with young and old, are at high risk, because they are more prone to depression and more affected by social and work repercussions.
Covid, the other pandemic: the virus has brought 1 million new cases of mental distress
by Valeria Pini
Negative emotions
“Women experience a wide range of unpleasant emotions: sense of inadequacy and guilt, anger towards oneself or towards one’s children and family, depressive experiences and feelings of emptiness, strong anxiety and fear for one’s future. In the most serious cases we find a sense of despair up to suicidal thoughts “, confirms the psychologist from her clinical case history.
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The resilience of the family
The family context can make a difference. “In balanced family contexts, where the couple is committed to sharing the burdens and paying attention to the development of themselves and their children, the pandemic, despite the objective difficulties, was an opportunity to rediscover a solid relationship, support of loved ones and to consolidate their sense of security, trust and perspective, “says the psychologist. “I strongly believe in strengthening the resilience of the family system through interventions that increase the degree of harmony and cooperation of the couple and of the whole nucleus”. Like? “Working with the woman to restructure some ways of looking at herself, ways that come from ideas on gender roles conveyed by the family of origin or more generally by the culture of belonging”. This type of interventions, explains the psychologist, allow you to legitimize yourself to take the space you need and to develop the courage to follow yourself.
Smartworking, the risks of work-related stress between children and home
by Valeria Pini
Involve the children
When necessary, children should be involved. Isolation, distance learning, the change in daily and weekly routines have generated discomfort in children and adolescents who have become sadder, more anxious, more frightened, angrier. “Taking care of their balance directly can bring great relief to the couple and the family and allow them to direct their energies towards activities, aspirations and relationships that nourish and deliver well-being”, advises the psychologist.
It would be important that women and families could count on greater social and institutional support, on policies designed starting from the real and daily challenges that families have to face. “The pandemic, given the power it has had in bringing to light inequalities and inequalities rooted in our understanding of gender roles, could represent a turning point. A new beginning that leads to truly fair, inclusive, and projected policies. a future of mutual support and closeness “.
Resist
In the meantime, however, we must resist, day after day. Coping with this everyday life that is no longer new. “Fatigue is not a condition that we must consider normal. When the system is fatigued, we are already experiencing a non-physiological state. The goal is to bring the woman to recognize her needs as legitimate and it is only when she can allow herself the right spaces that a space for development can open up for herself and the whole nucleus. Children suffer to see a parent who is dedicated only to the duties of life. A mother who manages to carve out space gives her children the idea of how the future , even in difficulties, it can be pleasant “, concludes the expert.
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