Lungani Zungu
It appears there’s a silver lining in the dark Covid-19 pandemic cloud.
A new report – State of the World’s Fathers 2021- found that more men took part in family caregiving work during the pandemic. This included cleaning and cooking.
Despite this rise, more women continued to do the lion’s share of unpaid care work around the world.
The survey concluded that men would have to do an average extra 50 minutes of work in the home a day – just to contribute as much as women.
The report estimates it will take the world 92 years for men and women to contribute to home chores equally.
The survey looked at 47 countries, including South Africa.
Many countries went on full lockdown when the pandemic wreaked havoc globally.
South Africa was one of them. Many companies closed, forcing their employees to work from home.
The report found that most men could not escape taking part in house duties during the hard lockdown.
“Some 56% of women and 51% of men from 47 countries, including South Africa, said the time they spent on unpaid care work had increased since the Covid-19 pandemic began,” read the report, produced by international gender equity organisation, Promundo.
There was no country in the world where men and women shared house duties equally, the report said.
While there was a rise in men participating in home chores, there was also a notable spike in gender-based violence during the lockdown.
The report recommended there should be a change of conditions and culture and policies for men and women to contribute equally in home duties.
Here are some of the report’s other statistics from around the world as reported by GroundUp:
