Women and household responsibilities under COVID-19 lockdowns: many steps backwards in implementing SDG 5 in South Africa

With more women entering the medical workforce, caregiving challenges and family-work conflicts are of growing importance to today's neurologists. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of caregiver (CG) status on academic achievements in neurology, analyze the division of labor and time devoted to domestic responsibilities, and measure family-work conflict in US academic neurology faculty. A total of 19 US neurology departments completed a survey on baseline demographics, academic achievements, CG status, division of domestic time and labor, and responses on a FWC scale. Variables were assessed using independent samples t tests (or Mann-Whitney U for non-normally distributed data) and X2 analyses as appropriate, with CGs vs noncaregivers (N-CGs) serving as the independent groups. Women were twice as likely as men to categorize themselves as caregivers (p = 0.005). There were no significant differences in academic achievements between the CG and N-CG groups. However, CG men had a statistically significantly higher number of leadership positions (p = 0.022), number of publications as first or last author (p = 0.020), and number of awards (p = 0.004) when compared with CG women. The percentage of CG women faculty who reported spending more than 22 hours per week on child care was significantly higher than that of CG men (p = 0.003). Caregiver women also reported doing more work at home; taking care of children when they are sick; taking days off work when children are sick; handling more chores related to child care (e.g., managing activities/schedules); and doing laundry, cooking, and cleaning related to child care. Finally, the CG group experienced a higher level of FWC, as evidenced by responses on the FWC scale (p < 0.001). This finding was same for CG women compared with CG men (p = 0.034). Although the caregiving burden did not directly affect academic productivity, it significantly increased FWC in US academic neurology faculty surveyed. Female CG faculty disproportionately shouldered domestic and household responsibilities. Beyond recognizing CG challenges, advocating for a change in paradigm and providing solutions to these pervasive issues could be instrumental in preventing further attrition of professionals from our field, particularly women with caregiving roles.

PROTOCOL: The effects of road infrastructure, and transport and logistics services interventions on women's participation in informal and formal labour markets in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.

Providing the essential care for children and aged relatives has immediate and long-term financial consequences for women, particularly financial insecurity in retirement. Women's caregiving careers are examined in relationship to the impact on retirement. The need for career and retirement education and counseling aimed at women who assume caregiving roles is addressed. ********** Women spend a considerable portion of their lives providing care that hinders their economic well-being (Young & Newman, 2004). At the turn of the 20th century, women spent, on average, approximately 19 years raising children and 9 years caring for a parent (Foulke, Alford-Cooper, & Butler, 1993). Currently, women are likely to spend 17 years raising children and 18 years caring for a parent (Foulke et al., 1993; Gaugler, Kane, & Kane, 2002; Kaden & McDaniel, 1990). It is estimated that baby boomers (i.e., those born between 1946 and 1964) will spend as many years caring for an elderly parent as raising a child. For many women, the roles of primary caregiver for children and primary caregiver of aged parents overlap in occurrence and duration. A woman's caregiving of children and aged parents potentially spans 35 years of a 78-year life expectancy. With an 11% lifetime incidence of providing care for grandchildren, a woman's caregiving career will expand (Fuller-Thomson, Minkler, & Driver, 1997). A growing number of women will spend most of their adult lives in multiple caregiving roles. The phenomenon of multiple caregiver roles within a woman's life span is socially coupled with a reinforcement deficit as evidenced in the lack of financial recognition for the performance of caregiving tasks. Thus, providing care for children, aged relatives, and/or grandchildren affects a woman's ability to financially plan or enact retirement. Women, especially those in later life and women of color, are more likely to have informal caregiving responsibilities thrust upon them. A variety of factors contribute to the increasing caregiving burden and the subsequent poverty of older women, including the lack of public-supported, affordable child care and elder care; inadequate family leave policies; and the gendered assumption that female relatives can and will voluntarily undertake caregiving responsibilities (Hooyman, Browne, Ray, & Richardson, 2002). Income from Social Security benefits and corporate pensions are rarely available for women whose caregiving roles result in erratic work histories at low-paying positions (Ekerdt & Hackney, 2002). It has been proposed that the poverty and near poverty of women in middle and later adulthood are logical outcomes of gender role demands that focus on the caregiver role, which is either low paying or provides no income (e.g., homemaker, child caregiver, elder caregiver). Women are disproportionately poor, and the proportion of women in poverty increases with age, primarily because of inadequate retirement income (Barusch, 1994; Glass & Kilpatrick, 1998; Pienta, 1999). Generally, women do not have retirement resources equivalent to those of men, and they tend to financially prepare less for retirement than do their male counterparts (Choi, 2002; Glass & Kilpatrick, 1998; Richardson, 1999). The purpose of this article is to describe women's caregiving careers and their negative impact on retirement financial security. Retirement issues for women (e.g., ability to retire, retirement income) as a result of providing care to aged relatives and grandchildren are presented within a cultural context. Caregiving implications on retirement planning and education designed specifically for women assuming caregiver roles are discussed, as well as the policies aimed at decreasing the financial risk for women who provide care. WOMEN'S MULTIPLE CAREGIVING ROLES Women are expected to, and often perform, multiple roles (Doress-Worters, 1994). …

In this article, we examine the effects of time spent in household labor on the gender gap in earnings. We identify that part of the gender gap in earnings directly attributable to women's greater household labor time. After controlling for years of work experience, hours worked per week, occupation, industry, union membership, and education, we find that household labor time can directly account for 8.2 percent of the gender gap in earnings. In addition to the direct effect of women's household responsibilities on earnings, they also may affect occupational location, work experience, and number of hours worked per week, and through these variables, their earnings. These findings indicate that we cannot truly understand women's earnings relative to those of men without considering the impact of their unpaid labor on their paid work.

Exploring lived experiences of informal caregivers for pregnant women seeking scheduled antenatal care during the COVID-19 lockdown in China: A phenomenological study

Housing infrastructure and women in care: COVID-19 experiences from urban informal settlements of Khulna, Bangladesh

IntroductionThis study explores the role of Pakistani women caregivers in older people's decision-making regarding access to healthcare services and medicine practices, including attitudes towards medicine adherence and self-medication.MethodsData were collected from 52 women who cared for older people using focus group discussions and semistructured interviews. The study was conducted in the rural and urban regions of Sargodha District, Punjab.ResultsInformal women caregivers play a pronounced role in decision-making about healthcare access and medicine-taking practices for older people. Treating illnesses at home with allopathic medicines is a common practice in both urban and rural settings. Caregivers were unaware of the risk associated with a delay in health-seeking and self-medication.ConclusionFindings suggest that educational interventions and coaching should be provided to improve family caregivers' knowledge so that they can contribute to better health outcomes for older people.

In Ghana, unintended pregnancies account for one in three births and are associated with adverse maternal and child health outcomes&amp;mdash;a problem that appears to have worsened during the COVID-19 lockdown and school closures. Hence, this study examines unintended pregnancy and its predictors among adolescent schoolgirls within the context of COVID-19-induced school closures in rural and underserved communities in Ejisu municipality in Ghana. The sample comprised 310 adolescent girls aged 13&amp;ndash;19 years who had a pregnancy during the COVID-19 lockdown. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire, and both bivariate and multivariate regression techniques were used to analyze the data. Of the total respondents, 227 (73.2%) had unintended pregnancies during the COVID-19 lockdown. The majority, 234 (75.5%), were aged between 16 and 19 years, 275 (88.7%) lived in rural areas, and 126 (40.6%) lived with only their mothers. Regression results demonstrated that girls who lacked knowledge of contraception (crude odds ratio = 0.691, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [0.479, 0.581]) and sex education (crude odds ratio = 0.209, 95% CI = [0.121, 0.362]), had multiple sex partners (adjusted odds ratio = 1.382, 95% CI = [0.289, 0.921]), and lived with only their mothers during the COVID-19 lockdown were more likely to experience unintended pregnancy than their counterparts. Awareness of the predicting factors identified in this study can guide parental roles in reducing the likelihood of their children being lured sexually or victimized during disruptive occurrences like COVID-19-induced school closures.

Professional nurses working in rural primary health-care settings are experiencing burnout due to serious shortages of personnel. This is exacerbated by the brain drain of nurses leaving the country. Rural settings are resource constrained in terms of personnel and equipment. This results in dissatisfaction among nurses due to the unbearable working conditions which result in stress and frustration. A qualitative, explorative, descriptive study was conducted to explore and describe the experiences of nurses working in a rural primary health-care setting in the greater Letaba sub-district in Limpopo Province. Purposive sampling was used to identify the participants. Data was collected in the form of in-depth interviews. The study revealed that nurses working in primary health-care settings were experiencing emotional and physical strain as a result of the shortage of human resources. It was recommended that policies that meet the health-care needs of rural communities be developed, and that strategies to retain professional nurses in primary health-care settings be formulated.

To reduce maternal mortality, countries must continue to seek ways to increase access to skilled care during pregnancy and delivery. In Zambia, while antenatal attendance is high, many barriers exist that prevent women from delivering with a skilled health provider. This study explores how the individuals closest to a pregnant woman in rural Zambia can influence a woman's decision to seek and her ability to access timely maternity care. At four rural health centers, a free listing (n = 167) exercise was conducted with mothers, fathers, and community elders. Focus group discussions (FGD) (n = 135) were conducted with mothers, fathers, mothers-in-law, and community health workers (CHWs) to triangulate findings. We analyzed the FGD data against a framework that overlaid the Three Delays Framework and the Social Ecological Model. Respondents cited husbands, female relatives, and CHWs as the most important influencers during a woman's maternity period. Husbands have responsibilities to procure resources, especially baby clothes, and provide the ultimate permission for a woman to attend ANC or deliver at a facility. Female relatives escort the woman to the facility, assist during her wait, provide emotional support, assist the nurse during delivery, and care for the woman after delivery. CHWs educate the woman during pregnancy about the importance of facility delivery. No specific individual has the role of assisting with the woman's household responsibilities or identifying transport to the health facility. When husbands, female relatives, or CHWs do not fulfill their roles, this presents a barrier to a woman deciding to deliver at the health facility (Delay 1) or reaching a health facility (Delay 2). An intervention to help women better plan for acquiring the needed resources and identifying the individuals to escort her and those to perform her household responsibilities could help to reduce these barriers to accessing timely maternal care.

Alternative trade organizations (ATOs) adhere to a set of socially responsible business practices fostering empowerment and improved quality of life for their workers. The researchers explored the ATO claim by asking, How has artisan work with Market Place: Handwork of India affected the capabilities and well-being of women textile artisans in India? A second question addressed women's household responsibilities in relation to work expectations. Photoelicitation interviews were conducted with 31 artisans who were asked to take photographs depicting “who you are, your work, your family, and the neighborhood where you live.” Charting of the women's daily activities into household responsibilities, cooking, and artisan work revealed a nonlinear nature to women's days. The interviews offered insights about newfound capabilities, which contributed to individual and household well-being in the form of more attractive living spaces, better schooling, interpersonal support, improved health, and conceptualizing a life of choices and duties.

Women often face trade-offs in fulfilling both employment and household responsibilities. One indicator of this is commute time, a compromise between the stresses of longer work journeys and potentially expanded job options. Women spend less time commuting than men and thus may have fewer work opportunities. While prior research finds a link between commute time and women's disproportionate household responsibilities, it does not examine in detail the potential role of job quality. Using employee data from the 2008 National Study of the Changing Workforce, this study examines how fringe benefits, scheduling flexibility, wages, and full-time hours relate to commute time and mediate relationships between sex, household responsibilities, and commute time. This study finds that for women, orientation toward traditional gender roles is associated with shorter commute times, though access to benefits is related to longer commutes. The association between wages and commute time is similar between women and men, and men’s commute times are not tied to their household roles or attitudes.

&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; The trends of students dropping the school has been increasing yearly. They dropped the school without completing the highest grade at the school. Therefore, school dropout has been a major concern and alarming to the Education Sector of the District Administration and as well to the school. The policies have to be realigned to tackle this problem. Although there are many reasons for school dropout, this paper tries to explore the reason or factors that contribute school dropout particularly at Laya Lower Central School, Gasa. And also this paper will try to find the solutions to prevent the dropout and it will recommend some way forward to keep the students at school. The findings are drawn from the data collected from 188 participants including teachers, parents, dropout students and school going students. The participants were selected randomly by giving the number to their name and used random table of numbers. The questionnaire and semi-structured interview were used to collect data. Numerical data were analyzed using SPSS and presented through descriptive statistics including frequency and percentages. The major reasons contributing to school dropout are household responsibilities, early marriage and pregnancy and family education. Therefore, the parental advice and support in education has been crucial to prevent students from dropping the school. And also it important for the school since it build the good relationship of teachers-students-parents ultimately creating a positive atmosphere at school which is vital element for retaining the students.&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D;

Background While there is now extensive research on how COVID-19 lockdowns negatively affected unpaid care burdens and intimate partner violence (IPV), the structural determinants shaping both experiences are less well understood. Objectives The review seeks to answer: how did structural determinants of gender inequality shape both the experiences of increased unpaid care burdens and IPV during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown? Which policy proposals might mitigate these effects during future pandemic preparedness and response? Methods We conducted a scoping review of two sets of literature: on COVID-19 and unpaid care and COVID-19 on IPV. Following systematic searches of key databases and the application of inclusion/exclusion criteria, we analyzed articles using a gender matrix framework to identify common themes and policy recommendations. Results Common themes include adherence to traditional gender norms, power dynamics featuring coercive control, narrowed pathways to formal and informal supports, and compounding emotional tolls. Policy recommendations from the literature aimed at addressing structural determinants of gender inequality common to both unpaid care and IPV, include expanded access to virtual support services, workplace policies that value the contributions of caregivers, enhanced engagement efforts to incorporate intersectional understandings, and funding for caregiver support services and the anti-violence sector which recognize the value of their contributions. Conclusions Enhanced understanding of the structural determinants of gender inequality at play in experiences of unpaid care work and IPV highlights gaps in pandemic response, which overlooked the role of gender inequities in shaping relationship dynamics, as well as areas for more gender transformative policies.

The scope of this article is to compare the work overload averages among caregivers assisting frequenters of a Psychosocial Care Center for children and adolescents (CAPSi) in Pelotas-Brazil in relation to the mental health of the children and adolescents and the caregivers themselves. It involved a cross-sectional study conducted with the primary caregiver of CAPSi frequenters. The work overload was evaluated using the Zarit Burden Interview scale and the mental health problems of frequenters were assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). To verify the presence of common potential mental disorders of caregivers, a Self-Report Questionnaire (SRQ-20) was used. T-test and ANOVA was used for data analysis. The average work overload was significantly higher in caregivers of frequenters with behavioral problems (p = 0.000), hyperactivity (p = 0.001) and relationship problems with peers (p = 0.001). IT was also significantly higher among those classified as potential cases of common mental disorders (p = 0.000); women caregivers (p = 0.032) and those with past problems with the Judiciary and/or Guardianship Council involving a frequenter (p = 0.039). The importance of work geared to caregivers to enhance the quality of care and quality of life of the caregivers themselves should be highlighted.