The pandemic has affected women’s lives in Rochester, just like it did in the rest of the world. Every aspect of women’s lives has been affected. From wreaking havoc on relationships to influencing career changes and even how women give birth has changed.
Covid Pandemic Changed Relationships
There is no doubt that pandemic has put an enormous strain on personal relationships. Couples thrust to spend all their waking hours together at home found themselves reevaluating their relationships, and many experienced marital problems.
For some, the lockdown restrictions have unmasked deep-seated problems that were ignored, while the normal rhythm of life enabled couples to spend time apart and come home in a more positive frame of mind. Their faults and problems became magnified while cooped up in the house for weeks on end. According to MarketWatch, the recent development is that 45% of matrimonial attorneys noted an increase in women paying alimony in Rochester.
More women enter the trade sector
Many women face pandemic-induced job change. Since the most affected sectors of travel and hospitality industries have shed many jobs that mainly women performed, women are faced with the need to reskill to find a path of re-entering the workforce. As the economy re-emerges from the pandemic, the demand for skilled artisans, carpenters, and plumbers has grown, attracting many women to learn a trade.
With their entry into the trades originally populated by men, women bring about subtle changes to the way things are done. One recent change taking effect in the plumbing industry is how plumbing fixtures are joined. In over 100 projects along the Gulf Coast, the standard welding of the pipe joints is being replaced by flanges and various pipe fittings to lay the water supply and sewage piping. These changes may have been brought about by more women entering the trade.
Changes in The Way Women Give Birth
The pandemic left nothing unscathed. Even the most personal activity of childbirth has women changing how they give birth. Pre-pandemic maternity wards, filled with supportive family members, baby’s father, and some friends, are all gone in memory of days passed. A woman in labor is expected to stay alone during the painful contractions with no one to offer an encouraging word. Only the baby’s father is allowed when the birth is imminent and not before.
No wonder that women are delaying going to the hospital when the labor starts. The change in maternity ward policies has led women to delay presenting to the hospital until the first stage of labor is advanced. That means that the woman has more time to spend in familiar surroundings of home and less time in a hospital bed. This could be viewed as a positive change, especially if there are no complications and the birth follows a normal pattern. However, should complications arise, late presentation to the maternity ward can delay diagnosis and treatment, which may negatively affect the health of the woman and her baby? So there are two sides to the story.
However, the pandemic has undeniably increased the number of natural births where women give birth lying on hospital beds without invasive medical intervention. It is almost like the pandemic has supported the movement towards natural birth instead of birth by caesarian section. In the past, the way she wanted to give birth was a woman’s choice, but now all women who do not have any reason to expect complications during birth are encouraged to stay at home or have a natural birth in a maternity ward. Only complicated cases are taken to the operating room for caesarian delivery.
Whether we like them or not, these changes are here to stay. Women will need to adapt to them and embrace them like any other challenge. If there ever will be such a thing, the post-pandemic world, it will not dismiss the damage already caused by Covid in the life of Rochester women.
