Covid-19: experiences of teaching-mothers in Pakistan

Abstract

Disasters are experienced by, and responded to, differently based on the gender of those experiencing these. The responsibilities of women, particularly mothers, are amplified during times of pressure. This study investigated the experiences of teaching-mothers in Pakistan during the Covid-19 pandemic to understand the challenges they faced as professionals and as mothers. The data were collected through in-depth interviews of 24 teaching-mothers. The study participants were identified through the snowball sampling technique. The data were collected until the point of data saturation and analysed through. The analysis indicates that teaching-mothers in Pakistan faced issues in terms of maintaining their work-life balance, managing space and resources for online teaching, and learning a new set of skills in order to teach online. These multiple challenges affected their mental health. The findings indicate a sharp division of gendered roles in Pakistan and their negative impact on the mental health of women during Covid-19. The study suggests devising organizational policies to support teaching-mothers generally and especially during crises.