GENDERED SPACES AND LOCKDOWN

Any disaster, natural or man-made does not have an unilinear effect upon all sections of the populace. From the perspective of class, it is always those at the bottom of the pyramid, with hand to mouth subsistence, who suffer the most; this is an example of vertical social stratification that has been normalised based on the hegemonic understanding that currently prevails. In case of gender, it should be noted that the understanding of this particular effect is even more perplexing.

In a traditional patriarchal Indian setting, an inner-outer and a spiritual-material dichotomy seems to be ever-present, and it should be noted that the space of the home is an extremely gendered space, with a gendered division of responsibilities. On 25th of March, 2020, India went into a state of total lockdown as a measure to counter the Covid-19 pandemic, first for a period of 14 days and then, extended up to 3rd May. Speeches justifying the lockdown reflecteded  masculine tropes as well as tradition-centered tropes, in the evocation of the Mahabharata’s 18 day war and Ramayana’s Lakshman Rekha. It must be noted that on both of these aforementioned epics, there is a particular phaliocentric axiom that plays a major role in the arrival of any decision. The invocation of the ‘Lakshman Rekha’, time and again, that Sita crossed and supposedly brought trouble on herself and others was particularly interesting as it hints at how it is the victims actions that lead to her downfall.

The lockdown led to shutdown of all public places, including offices, severely affecting neoliberal interests. The concept of ‘work from home’ became the norm affecting the accepted norms of spatial segregation of gender. The idea of men working in the external premise, with women being subjected to the kitchen space, is deeply ingrained the patriarchal Indian psyche. If one glances across social media platforms, there is a plethora of videos associated with the making and consumption of sumptuous food, being prepared mostly by the womenfolk of the household. The absence of women observed in the various social media groups is an indication of the extra time that they need to spend in household chores, which, by the way, remains unmeasured, as Maria Mies had pointed out through the process of ‘housewifeization’ of women. According to Mies, capitalist patriarchy has added an idea that the labor performed by housewives is natural, and thereby, besides being of traditional importance, it must not be measured using a scale of value. In case of India, it should be noted that there is an additional patriarchal incentivizing process that Uma Chakrabarti describes as ‘narcoticising patriarchy’, wherein women cannot simply escape their primary identity that has been bestowed upon them as ‘homemakers’.

Lockdown meant added household responsibilities with children at home doing online classes, elderly people particularly vulnerable to the virus unable to move out and in most cases little help from friends and neighbours. Surveys reflect that Indian women are burdened with disproportionate domestic work even in normal times. The pandemic meant that in most cases they were now faced with added burdens with reduced house help and increased responsibilities for cooking, cleaning, caring and increased hygiene requirements due to the pandemic. And all this in addition to their own professional work which had also moved online. While this was the reality in most households, a plethora of satirical images in the social media reflected the woes of men locked at home with their wives and induced to share in household work.

The gendered impact of the lockdown was not restricted to household chores. Domestic violence thrived under conditions created to fight the virus. Women were locked down with their abusers for months on end with reduced opportunities for help either social or medical. The lockdown meant increased ability of the abuser to monitor the abused, inability to travel for counseling, reduced working of courts and increased financial dependence as women faced pay cuts and job losses. The National Commission for Women recorded a two fold increase in domestic violence. And this was a worldwide phenomenon. All this was further exacerbated by increased domestic consumption of alcohol in some cases and forced abstinence in others further complicating the relationship between alcohol and domestic abuse. The subsequent listing of alcohol as a necessary item also became a catalyst to foment the rising number of domestic violence cases. The recent WhatsApp number launched by the National Council for Women (NCW) has already found an alarming rise in the number of complaints, according to initial reports. In addition to the trauma faced by women, it should also be noted how the lockdown has affected the larger LGBTQIAkh+ community as a whole, especially those who require hormone injections on a weekly basis. With medical resources being diverted to addressing Covid-19 patients, there has been a serious problem that has arisen with regards to the treatment of other patients.  There were also increased incidents of child abuse.

A recent report of a woman, having her spine broken by her husband because she had won a game of online ludo, is indeed a very sordid picture of the very reality that gendered spaces uphold. Gender disparity is an entrenched part of our society and one that has no quick fix. Yet, it was unfortunate that an attempt to control the pandemic became the catalyst for a more lopsided gendered space.

Raunak Bhattacharjee

Intern Asia in Global Affairs