Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Personal Life of Employees: An Evaluation in the Context of Gender COVID-19 Salgınının Çalışanların Kişisel Yaşamı Üzerindeki Etkileri: Cinsiyet Bağlamında Bir Değerlendirme
Journal of Disaster and Risk, cilt.5, sa.1, ss.297-317, 2022 (Scopus, TRDizin)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 5 Sayı: 1
- Basım Tarihi: 2022
- Doi Numarası: 10.35341/afet.1029023
- Dergi Adı: Journal of Disaster and Risk
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Scopus, TR DİZİN (ULAKBİM)
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.297-317
- Anahtar Kelimeler: Covid-19 Pandemic, Gender Discrimination, Inequality, Personal Life
- Açık Arşiv Koleksiyonu: AVESİS Açık Erişim Koleksiyonu
- Maltepe Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
The aim of this study, conducted using a qualitative method, is to examine how the personal lives of employees—who found themselves in a world that has turned into Heteropia with the COVID-19 epidemic—are affected in these hard times. The data were obtained from group focus interviews with 21 female and 27 male participants working in different business lines. The current version of MAXQDA was used in the research, conducted with data analysis technique. As people started working from home due to the pandemic regulations, their social life was interrupted. Their outdoors physical activities drastically dropped and their social environment became confined to their interaction with their families. Another challenge during the epidemic is related to gender stereotyping which unfairly assigns women the responsibility of taking care of the housework, giving rise to the dramatic increase of women's workloads. The reluctance to participate in the management of the housework and childcare on the part of most men resulted in the double-load put upon the shoulders of women. Moreover, as the data clearly indicated, being confined at home negatively affected men more than it did women. Accordingly, men did not cope as well as women with the stress and they became psychologically more vulnerable. The emotions most experienced in the epidemic seem to be the fear of infecting relatives and the anxiety due to the intense feeling of uncertainty. It has been observed that in the households where cooperation reigned, both men and women did much better in coping with the crisis during the pandemic. Evaluating the research results from a gender perspective, it is quite clear that discrimination against women, more visible in times of crises such as pandemics, is a social problem at large. In order to change the sexist perspective and establish the culture of gender equality, to take precautions and implement adequate policies is a sine qua no condition for a fairer society.