Teach girls that future partners should share burden of running household, says Girls’ Day School Trust chief Cheryl Giovannoni

There is a “huge amount” men can do to help women, Cheryl Giovannoni says
REUTERS
Anna Davis @_annadavis26 October 2020

Girls must be taught to expect their future partners to share the burden of running a household equally, the head of a private school group has said.

Cheryl Giovannoni, head of the Girls’ Day School Trust, voiced concern that working mothers have been hit the hardest by job losses during the pandemic because they have disproportionately carried the burden of childcare.

She said young women need the confidence to expect to be treated equally by their partner, and for their job not to be seen as “just the second degree career” of the relationship.

“How do women make sure that they are in partnerships or relationships where they don’t feel they have to carry the entire burden?” Ms Giovannoni said.

Cheryl Giovannoni, chief executive of the Girls’ Day School Trust

She said there is a “huge amount” men can do to help women, who are under “great pressure” as they bear the brunt of childcare and battle to keep their jobs during the pandemic.

“Men can be doing a ton more to recognise what their responsibilities are in sharing the load at home. Men should also be involved in making policies work for families because they are half the families themselves. They have a huge responsibility,” she said.

Her comments follow research which found that 46 per cent of women made redundant during the pandemic said a lack of childcare provision played a role in them losing their jobs, while 72 per cent said they have had to work fewer hours because of childcare issues.

The pressure on working mothers is expected to increase as the furlough scheme ends and more children are sent home from school during the cold and flu season.

“They [girls] need the confidence to expect to be treated equally."

Cheryl Giovannoni, CEO, Girls’ Day School Trust

The GDST is a group of 23 private girls’ schools, mostly in London, and two state schools.

Ms Giovannoni said: “Our schools work really hard on this next generation of women. Unless you build confidence and empower women to feel that they can be in relationships where they feel they have the right to expect their partner to do 50 per cent of the heavy lifting – and they have the confidence to be asking for that – we are never going to really make progress.”

She added: “They need the confidence to expect to be treated equally.

“That’s so important in helping them develop that self-belief that what they do really matters, and it’s not just the second degree career in a relationship.

“It’s about sharing the load and having negotiations around what you need, rather than you always performing the stereotypical role that you are expected to by default because you are a woman." She said there needs to be a change in society’s expectation that women will give up their careers to look after children in times of crisis.

She said: “This expectation will shift with women feeling more empowered to make demands that perhaps they didn’t make before, and expect their partners to step up.”

Keeping women in employment is also vital to help the government pay off the debt that has built up during the pandemic, she said.

The pandemic has magnified existing problems with the provision of childcare that need to be addressed urgently, Ms Giovannoni said, adding: “We cannot afford to allow the progress that has been made [in women’s employment] to be frittered away in the pandemic. That would be such a shame.”

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