The COVID-19 pandemic was – and continues to be – hugely disruptive and stressful for people, communities and countries. Yet many seem eager to close the chapter entirely, almost as if it had never happened.
This desire to forget and move on – labelled “lockdown amnesia” by some – is comprehensible at one level. But it also risks missing the chance to learn from what happened.
And while various official enquiries and royal commissions have been established to look at the broader government responses (including in New Zealand), the experiences of abnormal individuals are equally vital to know.
As researchers involved in women and gender roles, we desired to capture a few of this. For the past three years, our research has focused on what happened to on a regular basis women during this era of uncertainty and disruption – and what lessons is perhaps learned.
Pandemic amnesia
Individual memory can grow to be vague as time goes on. But this may also be affected by broader narratives (within the media or official responses) that overwrite our own recollections of the pandemic.
Political calls to “live with the virus”, and media hesitancy to publish COVID-related stories as a result of perceived audience fatigue, can create a collective sense of needing to “move on”. Looking back might be seen as questionable, and even attacked.
Indeed, misinformation and disinformation have been used, within the words of leading pandemic social scientist Deborah Lupton, to “challenge science and manufacture dissent against attempts to tackle [such] crises”.
But because the memory scholar Sydney Goggins has put itsuch “public forgetting results in a cascade of impacts on policy and social wellbeing”.
A gendered pandemic
Responding to the rapidly changing social, cultural and economic impacts of the pandemic, feminist scholars have highlighted the actual physical and emotional toll on women worldwide.
This has included social isolation and lonelinessincreased domestic and emotional labourthe rise in domestic and gender-based violence, job losses and financial insecurity. Black, Indigenous, minority and migrant women have felt these impacts particularly keenly.
The same trends have been observed in Aotearoa New Zealand. And whereas some countries embraced pandemic recovery strategies that recognised these gender differences, this hasn’t been the case in New Zealand.
The gendered abuse of ladies leaders – former prime minister Jacinda Ardern and scientist Siouxsie Wilesfor instance – have been well documented. But the experiences of abnormal women, their struggles and methods to take care of themselves and others, have had much less attention.
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Experiences of on a regular basis women
Our study involved 110 women in Aotearoa New Zealand. We set out to know how they adapted their on a regular basis practices – work, leisure, exercise, sport – to keep up or regain wellbeing, social connections and a way of community.
Despite many differences between the ladies in our sample, there have been also shared experiences. We referred to the ruptures within the patterns, rhythms and routines of their lives as “gender arrhythmia”.
The women responded to the psycho-social and physical challenges, akin to disrupted sleep or weight changes, by creating counter-rhythms – taking on hobbies, exercising, changing food regimen.
The pandemic also prompted many to reflect on how their pre-pandemic routines and rhythms had caused various types of “alienation”: from their very own health and wellbeing, meaningful social connections, ethical and sustainable work practices, and pleasure.
The disruption of the pandemic caused many to reevaluate the importance of labor of their lives. As one reflected:
COVID-19 has made me reassess what’s a very powerful thing. Is it making a living? Actually, no, in no way.
Others were prompted to query and challenge the gendered demands on women to “do all the pieces” and “be in every single place” for everybody:
I feel as women, because we’re so good at multitasking, we just put a lot on our plates. I feel we’d like to learn simply to say no, because we’re not superhuman. And ultimately, all of this responsibility is weighing us down.
Our research also highlighted how the pandemic affected women’s relationships with familiar spaces and places. Leaving home for a walk, run or bike ride became vital on a regular basis practices that proved highly useful for most ladies’s subjective wellbeing.
Some got here to appreciate physical activity for the final joys of movement and reference to people and places, reasonably than simply to attain particular goals like fitness or weight reduction.
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Special challenges for young women
As a part of our overall project, we also focused on 45 young women (aged 16 to 25). This highlighted the importance of recognising how gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic circumstances intersect.
Listening to their pandemic storieswe found young women played vital roles in supporting their families and communities.
In particular, Māori, Pacific and others from diverse ethnic or migrant backgrounds carried increased responsibilities in the house, including childcare, cleansing, cooking and shopping. While many did so willingly, these extra burdens took a toll on their education, mental health and wellbeing.
For many young women, the pandemic was a radical disruption to their on a regular basis lives and routines during a critical stage of identity development. They missed key milestones and events, and crucial phases of education and social development.
Many still grieve for a few of those losses. And some are struggling to rebuild social connections, motivation and aspirations.
For example, some described being passionate and aspiring athletes before the pandemic. But social anxieties and body-image issues left over from lockdowns have been hard to shake, and have seen them struggle to return to sport.
The invisible work of migrant women
We also looked deeply on the experiences of 12 middle-class migrant womenand the way prolonged border closures created real anxiety about “not being there” for families overseas.
As one nurse working on the front line of COVID care in NZ explained:
About a yr ago, the cases of COVID in my homeland were increasing so rapidly. My family weren’t thoroughly and I used to be depending on social media […] trying to achieve out to them. I used to be really scared at the moment, not having the ability to see your loved ones once they actually need you, not having the ability to be with them.
Some of the ladies in our sample also experienced increased anti-immigrant sentiments which further affected their health and wellbeing – and their feelings of belonging. As one said:
I’ve grow to be extremely sensitive. I cry about small things. My doctor said “go and get some fresh air, it’s good for you” […] I went outside for a walk, and someone shouted at me, screamed at me. I got terrified for my life. How do you expect me to have wellbeing when nobody within the society accepts you?
This arm of the research suggests an actual need for investment in policies and support strategies specifically for migrant women and their communities in any future global health emergency.
Communities of care
A key feature of our study was the highly creative ways women cultivated “communities of care” through the pandemic. Even once they were struggling themselves, they reached out to family and friends – and particularly other women.
The majority of our participants were prompted to think in another way about their very own health and wellbeing, and what is vital of their lives (now and in the long run).
Throughout the pandemic, women have worked quietly, behind the scenes, of their families, communities and workplaces, supporting their very own and others’ health and wellbeing. This invisible labour is never acknowledged or celebrated.
Many still feel the toll of economic hardship, violence and exhaustion. And less tangible feelings of disillusionment remain in a society that has so quickly “moved on” from the pandemic.
Acknowledging and addressing pandemic amnesia – personal and collective – is a crucial first step in documenting, learning from, and using these experiences to higher prepare for future events. Next time, we’d like to make sure the essential support is out there for those most in need.