Gender Issues and the Care Crisis as Revealed by COVID-19

: What is Social Science that Embraces Life ?

Abstract

This article has revealed a multilayered structure whereby COVID-19 pushes women into harsh situations. Women suffer from the “intimacy disease” thanks to their roles in taking care of others in their families or workplaces. When they need public support, it is also women who try hard to provide public services in spite of their own unrewarding positions as non-standard public labourers. If we use the wider definition of care as “activities to support life”, the value of care has not been properly appreciated in this society, and so the time and effort spent on it are not considered as the necessary work hours to keep society moving. Women’s suffering in various forms share the common phenomenon of accumulating care burdens on women. A rebuilding plan with a gender perspective is necessary for the construction of the “new normal” after COVID-19. Gender equality is an indicator that measures whether care is positioned appropriately in society, and whether “a society that embraces life” has been achieved.