Okay. So I was just eating dinner and having a conversation with mum about my childhood antics and it somehow led me to thinking about how long it’s been since I’ve had the time to restart my blog. I really really wanted to kick it off with a strong start, hence it had to either be about a sensitive topic or an ongoing reality. I decided to include both of those aspects.
Look back at the title. What was your first thought? Oh no, yet another covid-19 article, how many people are going to write about this, ugh! Well, to be honest I never knew myself that this was going to be one of the less-talked about sides of this pandemic that I was going to explore, so here we go…
Let me start with a short introduction on what we already know. In light of the spread of the coronavirus, there have been doctors and nurses working endlessly to save lives, putting at risk their own. Secondly, migrant workers and daily-wage labourers are starving even more due to this lockdown. Thirdly, people with homes, like us, are unable to step out at all in order to minimise the risk of illness, thereby doing the best we can(exceptions will always exist, hopefully a dissimilar feature of the virus). However, just like a survey, this blog is going to focus on a certain majority of people whose role has suddenly resurfaced as Crucial in order to maintain peace and harmony in the space of each of our homes.
Yes, I’m talking about the unpaid workers, the discounted and taken-for-granted women at home. Before you assume the following paragraphs to be extensively feminist, I request you to hold that thought for a while. Webster’s dictionary has defined a housewife as “a married woman in charge of her household”. A “modern” woman is someone who balances the workings of the house and earns as an added contribution(in my opinion, one of her many hidden talents). But now, what has happened? All the women have become stay-at-home moms or just plain housewives. Has anything changed? Have their roles shifted? Absolutely not. This reminds me of one of my favourite quotes, “We only begin to value things the most when they are taken away from us”. The ability to cook, clean, organise and adjust is so underrated that suddenly, when we are forced to observe a person doing these at a very close angle, we are taken aback. Has he/she been doing this the entire time? How has she managed to do so for almost an eternity and still made it look like cakewalk?
This lockdown has NOT stopped the women from exhibiting their roles to the fullest. Of course, there are stay-at-home men too, but like I said, I’m talking about the majority here(before you could question that).
She serves the piping hot breakfast, cleans the table after everyone is done, feeds the kids while her food gets cold, replies to her emails, prepares the next meal before time, cleans every nook and corner(literally a clean or die situation right now) and finally takes care of herself only to get back to the Next chore. So, the videos that we are seeing currently, of men trying to replace the roles of their wives and messing it up but eventually catching on? It’s a good laugh isn’t it? But doesn’t it make you wonder how the female species, the incredible, underappreciated women have been doing this since so damn long?! But despite this sad reality, Kudos to the men and children who have been a huge help, not just now, but also before 2019, who have at least tried to be a little bit more of a helping hand to the woman who works tirelessly and not even for herself. Kudos to all those souls because it’s never too late to realise the value of a good thing and start to act upon being grateful for it through meaningful actions. It really does go a long way people. Thank You for being an amazing listener and I really hope I have inspired, at least a little part of you, to Wake Up and Help Out.
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