Husbands and housework

With men being forced to stay at home due to the lockdown, there has been a rise in two kinds of incidents. On one hand, increasing cases of abuse against women and children are being reported, and on the other, some men are breaking patriarchal traditions, entering kitchens, helping take care of children, and maintaining the house.

In Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune, Rohini Chittaranjan Joshi has been noticing fathers in queue to pick up food packets for their children from her anganwadi. Rohini, who has been an anganwadi sevika for the last 30 years, says, “It’s funny because some of these men used to come to this anganwadi centre as children themselves. Now that they’ve grown up, I don’t need to convince them about the importance of nutrition and childcare as much as I had to 30 years ago.”

However, there are still certain barriers that keep men from being fully involved in their child’s formative years. Kiran Shivsharan, another anganwadi worker from Gautam Nagar, Pimpri, says, “In my community, male involvement in meetings often deterred mothers from joining in. As women ourselves, we did face some hesitation and perhaps shyness in interacting with men. Moreover, as my anganwadi is quite small, unlike other anganwadis in Maharashtra, both parents cannot fit in every meeting.”

Fathers often have to be specifically reached out to based on their availability. “I always schedule my home visits on Thursdays. With weekly power cuts on the same day, it becomes easier to talk to them,” Kiran adds.

Rucha Satoor is a media and documentation specialist. The original story was published by Charkha Features.

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Know more: Read about the cost of masculine norms on young boys and men.

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