<![CDATA[India's coronavirus lockdown is forcing women to do all the work]>

Every morning, marketing professional Sagari starts her day at 9am by sweeping the floors of her two-bedroom flat in suburban Mumbai. The 35-year-old then makes breakfast for her husband, father and three-year-old son, before preparing lunch and parking herself in front of her laptop to work, in between responding to calls for tea from her husband and demands from her toddler.

At 9pm, she cooks dinner then washes up and listens in on international client calls that can last until 2am.

"Sometimes I take painkillers," Sagari said. "Just so that I can get all the work done."

Before India imposed a nationwide lockdown on March 23 to control the spread of Covid-19, many middle and upper middle class families like Sagari's were used to having at least one domestic helper. Millions are employed in this informal job, mostly migrants from rural villages.

Life under lockdown has put added strain on the lives of many Indian women. Photo: EPA

But restrictions on movement in the wake of the pandemic meant many were barred from travelling to their employers' homes or kept out of residential communities to maintain social distancing norms.

Traditional expectations of what constitutes women's work means working mothers have often been left to fill the void left by their helpers' absence, shouldering the burden of the lion's share of household chores while also having to care for their families. Four out of the five women that This Week in Asia interviewed for this article did not want to reveal their full names, for fear it could lead to confrontation with their families.

The unpaid labour of housewifery is rarely valued as an economic activity even though it is crucial for the smooth functioning of industries worldwide. A recent analysis by Oxfam, however, found if women were paid minimum wage for the time spent engaged in such activities it would amount to US $10.9 trillion every year " three times the size of the world's tech industry.

When it comes to unpaid care work and household chores, the gender divide is much starker in India than elsewhere " women spend about six hours each managing the home, on average, compared to 52 minutes for men. In Scandinavian countries, for example, there is much less of a divide.

In India, household chores are traditionally thought of as women's work. Photo: Shutterstock

One Kolkata-based financial professional, who did not want to give her name, said her husband does "zilch" around the house, and that she finds it difficult to get out of beds most mornings knowing she will be responsible for most of the domestic chores. "I don't have as much energy as I used to, it takes a lot of self-motivation to get through the day," said the woman, who is also a cancer survivor.

For others, even when the men do help out it becomes a source of frustration.

"The household work they do is often incomplete, or piecemeal, done at their own convenience rather than when it needs to be done," said a Mumbai based journalist in her 30s who is the only woman in a house of several male relatives. "They think they are contributing 'equally' ".

For Sagari, this has reflected on her professional performance " she is no longer deemed capable of managing the team she once single-handedly led and is now excluded from all crucial company projects.

For full-time homemakers, the situation hasn't been easy either.

Shweta Chatkara, a 41-year-old housewife in suburban Mumbai who lives with her mother-in-law, husband and two teenage sons, said she feels like she is cooking more than ever " and now has the added responsibility of cleaning the house, a chore that was previously done by a maid.

"These days everyone is always at home. So they want snacks at all hours and one also has to keep thinking of variety to serve," she said. "Before there was a fixed schedule where I had my free time to take a nap and even meet friends. Now the work is just continuous, from the moment you wake up."

Devanshi Jalan, a private clinical psychologist in Mumbai, said she thinks that Indian men have been "conditioned" not to offer help, while most women feel unable to ask.

Preparing food becomes a full-time job when you have a family to feed and everyone is always home. Photo: AFP

"Most men in India are taught that a man's job is to bring in the money and a woman's job is to take care of the family," she said. "While women are raised to believe that they are not supposed to speak up or allow their husbands and in-laws to complain about them."

The patriarchy further manipulates women by creating societal expectations that disempower their own gender.

"Women find it difficult to delegate chores due to the personal stigma and guilt around being 'unable to manage'," said Nilofar Sait, a psychotherapist and head of strategy at the Mumbai-based mental health provider Ambrosian Resources. "This idea to constantly perform well in multiple roles is reinforced by older women role models around them like mothers or mothers-in-law."

This was certainly the case for one 51-year-old entrepreneur based in the town of Saharanpur in North India. She had four domestic helpers to cook for her five-member family and clean her multistorey home before the lockdown.

Psychotherapists say children can be 'sensitised' to accept doing chores. Photo: EPA

"My mother-in-law gets very upset if she sees the men of the house doing any kitchen work," she said. "So now I manage that solely by myself. Though my workload has increased three-fold."

Sait said it was important for men and women to "collaborate" to achieve greater equality between the sexes.

"Start with sensitising children in their early years to doing domestic chores, irrespective of gender," she said. "Large scale social change can only take place when traditional value systems are remodelled."

As for Sagari, she is conscious of bringing up her son in a way that he will share "equal" workload with his future partner.

"Sometimes when I am sweeping the floor or doing the washing he will come up to me and offer to help," she said. "It brings a smile to my face."

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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