Mothers on the third shift during the corona virus epidemic

The paper explores the gendered realities of work-life balance in Iceland during the Covid-19 pandemic, in particular how these societal changes reflect and affect the gendered division of unpaid labour, such as childcare, household chores, and mental load. The study draws on written, open ended rea...

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Main Authors: Hjálmsdóttir, Andrea, Bjarnadóttir, Valgerður S.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:Icelandic
Published: School of Social Sciences 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ojs.hi.is/index.php/tf/article/view/3875
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spelling fticelandunivojs:oai:ojs.pkp.sfu.ca:article/3875 2023-11-12T04:19:32+01:00 Mothers on the third shift during the corona virus epidemic Mæður á þriðju vaktinni í kórónaveirufaraldrinum Hjálmsdóttir, Andrea Bjarnadóttir, Valgerður S. 2023-10-21 application/pdf https://ojs.hi.is/index.php/tf/article/view/3875 isl ice School of Social Sciences https://ojs.hi.is/index.php/tf/article/view/3875/2451 https://ojs.hi.is/index.php/tf/article/view/3875 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0 The Icelandic Society; Vol. 12 No. 1 (2021): Issue of 2021; 22-33 Íslenska þjóðfélagið; Bnd. 12 Nr. 1 (2021): Árshefti 2021; 22-33 Verkaskipting kynjanna Tilfinningavinna Hugræn byrði Kórónaveirufaraldurinn Gendered divison of labor Emotional work Mental load Covid-19 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Ritrýnd grein 2023 fticelandunivojs 2023-10-25T22:54:52Z The paper explores the gendered realities of work-life balance in Iceland during the Covid-19 pandemic, in particular how these societal changes reflect and affect the gendered division of unpaid labour, such as childcare, household chores, and mental load. The study draws on written, open ended real-time diary entries, collected daily for two weeks during the peak of the first wave of the pandemic, in March and April 2020. The entries represent the voices of 37 mothers in heterosexual relationships. The findings show how burdened the mothers were in their everyday life during the first wave of the pandemic, juggling time between work and childcare. Their words reflected a reality in which they shouldered more of the housework and childcare than their partners and took on intense emotional labour as they tried to keep everyone calm and safe. Furthermore, the mothers described how the mental load, which involves the division of tasks at home, lay on their shoulders, as well as difficult decision making, causing them stress and frustration. Ljóst er að kórónaveirufaraldurinn sem herjað hefur á heimsbyggðina frá því í ársbyrjun 2020 hefur haft ófyrirsjáanleg og margþætt samfélagsleg áhrif. Barnafjölskyldur eru þar ekki undanskildar, en á tímum harðari samkomutakmarkana en flestir hafa upplifað í samtímanum hefur líf barna og foreldra þeirra raskast mikið. Í þessari grein er sjónum sérstaklega beint að upplifun mæðra í gagnkynja parasamböndum og hvernig þær sinntu tilfinningavinnu og hugrænni byrði í daglegu lífi í kjölfar hertra samkomutakmarkana í fyrstu bylgju faraldursins. Rannsóknin byggir á persónulegum, opnum dagbókarfærslum tæplega fjörutíu mæðra yfir tveggja vikna tímabil í mars og apríl vorið 2020. Niðurstöður rannsóknarinnar eru kynntar undir tveimur meginþemum. Fyrra þemað varpar ljósi á birtingarmyndir tilfinningavinnunnar sem mæðurnar lýstu endurtekið í hugleiðingum sínum. Seinna þemað endurspeglar þá miklu hugrænu byrði sem þær upplifðu, sem kristallaðist meðal annars í ábyrgð þeirra á að ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland University of Iceland: Peer Reviewed Journals Vikna ENVELOPE(11.242,11.242,64.864,64.864)
institution Open Polar
collection University of Iceland: Peer Reviewed Journals
op_collection_id fticelandunivojs
language Icelandic
topic Verkaskipting kynjanna
Tilfinningavinna
Hugræn byrði
Kórónaveirufaraldurinn
Gendered divison of labor
Emotional work
Mental load
Covid-19
spellingShingle Verkaskipting kynjanna
Tilfinningavinna
Hugræn byrði
Kórónaveirufaraldurinn
Gendered divison of labor
Emotional work
Mental load
Covid-19
Hjálmsdóttir, Andrea
Bjarnadóttir, Valgerður S.
Mothers on the third shift during the corona virus epidemic
topic_facet Verkaskipting kynjanna
Tilfinningavinna
Hugræn byrði
Kórónaveirufaraldurinn
Gendered divison of labor
Emotional work
Mental load
Covid-19
description The paper explores the gendered realities of work-life balance in Iceland during the Covid-19 pandemic, in particular how these societal changes reflect and affect the gendered division of unpaid labour, such as childcare, household chores, and mental load. The study draws on written, open ended real-time diary entries, collected daily for two weeks during the peak of the first wave of the pandemic, in March and April 2020. The entries represent the voices of 37 mothers in heterosexual relationships. The findings show how burdened the mothers were in their everyday life during the first wave of the pandemic, juggling time between work and childcare. Their words reflected a reality in which they shouldered more of the housework and childcare than their partners and took on intense emotional labour as they tried to keep everyone calm and safe. Furthermore, the mothers described how the mental load, which involves the division of tasks at home, lay on their shoulders, as well as difficult decision making, causing them stress and frustration. Ljóst er að kórónaveirufaraldurinn sem herjað hefur á heimsbyggðina frá því í ársbyrjun 2020 hefur haft ófyrirsjáanleg og margþætt samfélagsleg áhrif. Barnafjölskyldur eru þar ekki undanskildar, en á tímum harðari samkomutakmarkana en flestir hafa upplifað í samtímanum hefur líf barna og foreldra þeirra raskast mikið. Í þessari grein er sjónum sérstaklega beint að upplifun mæðra í gagnkynja parasamböndum og hvernig þær sinntu tilfinningavinnu og hugrænni byrði í daglegu lífi í kjölfar hertra samkomutakmarkana í fyrstu bylgju faraldursins. Rannsóknin byggir á persónulegum, opnum dagbókarfærslum tæplega fjörutíu mæðra yfir tveggja vikna tímabil í mars og apríl vorið 2020. Niðurstöður rannsóknarinnar eru kynntar undir tveimur meginþemum. Fyrra þemað varpar ljósi á birtingarmyndir tilfinningavinnunnar sem mæðurnar lýstu endurtekið í hugleiðingum sínum. Seinna þemað endurspeglar þá miklu hugrænu byrði sem þær upplifðu, sem kristallaðist meðal annars í ábyrgð þeirra á að ...
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Hjálmsdóttir, Andrea
Bjarnadóttir, Valgerður S.
author_facet Hjálmsdóttir, Andrea
Bjarnadóttir, Valgerður S.
author_sort Hjálmsdóttir, Andrea
title Mothers on the third shift during the corona virus epidemic
title_short Mothers on the third shift during the corona virus epidemic
title_full Mothers on the third shift during the corona virus epidemic
title_fullStr Mothers on the third shift during the corona virus epidemic
title_full_unstemmed Mothers on the third shift during the corona virus epidemic
title_sort mothers on the third shift during the corona virus epidemic
publisher School of Social Sciences
publishDate 2023
url https://ojs.hi.is/index.php/tf/article/view/3875
long_lat ENVELOPE(11.242,11.242,64.864,64.864)
geographic Vikna
geographic_facet Vikna
genre Iceland
genre_facet Iceland
op_source The Icelandic Society; Vol. 12 No. 1 (2021): Issue of 2021; 22-33
Íslenska þjóðfélagið; Bnd. 12 Nr. 1 (2021): Árshefti 2021; 22-33
op_relation https://ojs.hi.is/index.php/tf/article/view/3875/2451
https://ojs.hi.is/index.php/tf/article/view/3875
op_rights https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
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