Work from Home or Work for Home

This coronavirus outbreak confined us to our homes and we – the ‘women of the house’, considered multitaskers, are expected to manage all the stuff around. So, the huge responsibility of managing office, home, kids and to some extent (well not some but full in some cases) our husbands also fell on our strong shoulders. Ideally everyone is ‘Working from Home’ during the lockdown. However, we were both ‘Working from and for home’.
Nonetheless, the question here is if working for home is a priority on our list why is that not the case with our spouses. They, in order to help around, do some stuff as directed but seldom does the onus of managing the household duties solely rest with them.

We may have equally challenging jobs but our brains are wired to take up these responsibilities alongside. We may have an important office call going on but our kids have the right to barge in on us if they need to ask something or need something (despite being instructed not to do so!) and so do our husbands or house help or anyone in the house who needs us. We might have to put the call on hold, mute it, turn off the camera and deal with the urgency, as we may not want to make someone wait. But again, if we end up doing this, we are called out for not understanding the importance of the office work or the virtual classes. Duh! We do understand but we take the liberty to do the same that is done with us.

Would it not be good that we also get to enjoy work from home equally with full support and less worry about the household chores, absence of help, finishing groceries or technical glitches! Let us not be under pressure of getting the lunch ready or completing housework as the office call is about to start. Instead, it would great if we could relax a bit too, ask our spouse/ kids (grown-ups of course!) to work for home for a while whilst we attend to our professional needs stress-free.

On a positive note, while many men have understood the pressure and importance of contributing to household chores, some of them have also taken it upon themselves to carry out certain tasks singlehandedly. Kudos to them and a request for others to please support the women of the house, professional or not! A little effort will surely make working from and for home much pleasurable.