Pandemic May Be Taking Especially Hard Toll on Women

The novel coronavirus has shown little gender bias, infecting women and men at roughly equal rates, but many women say they are finding the pandemic and its societal fallout may be placing a particular heavy burden on them by magnifying pre-existing norms and expectations of women’s roles in their families and workplaces.

Based on cases for which gender information was available, about 51 percent of detected COVID-19 infections in L.A. County affected female patients, while the rate in Pasadena has been recorded at 53 percent, according to county and local public health data.

Some women say they’ve had to reduce work hours to make more time for family while kids are out of school. And single mothers face particular challenges as the sole provider and caretaker of children.

While the pandemic has been an especially trying time for many, “Women in our Pasadena community are strong and resilient,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger.

“This pandemic has presented unique challenges for everyone, especially for women who have an incredible sense of responsibility in our careers, families, and communities,” according to Barger. “Traditionally, women are the ones who all look to for support, nurturing and compassion. The pandemic has amplified the sense of responsibility for many women who have had to adapt how they work, assist their children with distance learning, maintain connections with loved ones from afar, and contribute to community causes.

“With a supermajority of women on our Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, we are uniquely in-tune with the priorities and perspectives of the women in our communities,” Barger added. “Whether we’re lending support to small business owners, providing housing for those experiencing homelessness, or bolstering opportunities for foster youth, we are committed to providing thoughtful care with women in mind.”

Citing a local example, “Just a few months ago, the Pasadena Fire Department deployed its first all-women crew, proving how far we’ve come to see women taking well-deserved leadership positions,” Barger said. “During the pandemic, and long after it ends, women play a crucial role in serving and strengthening our community.”

Kris Ockershauser, a member of the ACLU’s Pasadena-Foothills Chapter, said she was concerned about the position the pandemic has left single mothers in.

“I think there are now so many single mothers who are the sole support of their children,” she said. “They often hold low-paying jobs with few benefits. So if they can’t send their children to school, she may have to give up work to take care of them, or pay for someone else to do so.”

Regardless of gender, “The government could and should provide income during this pandemic to people who cannot work now. This should include enough funds to keep the many renters in their homes,” Ockershauser said.

South Pasadena resident Emily Beaghan, an attorney for a nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles, has three children, two in elementary school and one a toddler.

“I think that some of the inequalities that we see, like in-home management, have really translated into greater disparities in remote learning and all of that,” she said. “In my personal home, my spouse has a job that can only be done on site.”

While she’s able to do her work from home, Beaghan said she’s found visiting the office to be a welcome respite from everyday life during COVID-19.

“Going into the office is like a spa day. It’s remarkable. I can get what I want to eat and I only have one job to do, which is my career job. That’s it. I don’t have to make lunch for my children and clean up for lunch for my children. I don’t have to supervise first grade and fourth grade,” Beaghan said.

“I am not a good first-grade teacher,” she said. “When we were in our 20s, my husband and I bought a house in a nice area with good public schools, because I knew under no circumstances would I be homeschooling. And here I am homeschooling.”

While the issues are more likely to affect women than men, men are feeling it too, Beaghan said.

“I do have a couple of friends who the husband is the primary caretaker, and they’re struggling too,” Beaghan said. “But I do think that we already have this system sort of set up like that the woman is frequently, not always, putting their career on hold or trying to have a more flexible career to raise children.”

Alexandra Berrie of Pasadena said she has had to cut back on her hours as a ghostwriter, largely due to the ongoing remote learning situation.

Berrie said her daughter attends a dual-language Mandarin immersion program at Field Elementary School.

“But the way that that shakes out is that when school is happening online, it’s happening in Chinese, which I don’t speak. So not only am I trying to pay attention to what to do and all of the kinds of assignments that she needs to be completing, but I can’t even follow what the teacher is saying,” she said.

“It’s been challenging and I enjoy it. I’m learning a lot of Mandarin that I otherwise would not. But it’s pretty far from ideal,” she said.

As the pandemic stretches on, “it definitely seems to me as though it’s easy to slip back into traditional gendered patterns, wherein women are expected to do more of the child-rearing,” according to Berrie.

“And the situation where women still are not paid at parity with men, um, makes it tough and makes it complicated.

Lena Kennedy, president and CEO of the LL Kennedy and Associates law firm in Pasadena, said while the pandemic has undoubtedly affected everyone, oftentimes, social issues and responsibilities fall heavily more heavily on the woman than it does on the man.

“It’s expected that the woman makes sure that the kids get up and get to school. It’s expected that the woman is responsible for making sure that people’s medical needs are met, go to the doctor, go to the dentist, and make sure there’s proper medicine in the house,” Kennedy said.

“I think men are participatory, but I think it’s the woman that leads and guides those social issues and those family health issues while maintaining that stable stability in the household and that harmony in the household,” Kennedy said. “Although it doesn’t exclude those men that have been in our caregivers.”

Even during normal times, “that’s a heavy burden that is imposed on the woman. And I think that this pandemic has caused more mental stress on people across the board,” she said.

“Some women have been able to keep working and taking care of home as well, but it’s a bigger burden when you’re home 24/7 and you have to separate work from home, and you’re at home,” she said.

See also:

Meet Pasadena’s First All-Female Fire Crew