Helen Harris-Fry, INFUSION Co-investigator and Associate Professor at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, reflects on familial work burdens in food purchasing and preparation.
๐ต All day, every day, therapist, mother, maid
The capillaries in my eyes are bursting
If our love died, would that be the worst thing?
For somebody I thought was my saviour
You sure make me do a whole lot of labour ๐ถ
Paris Palomaโs song on labour makes me think so much about the work that mothers take on in their daily lives. Yes, it can be gratifying to love and care for your family; it can also be tiring and frustrating drudgery.
In our INFUSION project in India, we have been listening to families share their experiences about work burdens, especially about food purchasing and preparation.
๐ช๐ต๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐๐ธ ๐บ๐ผ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ต๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฟ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐น๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฏ๐ถ๐๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐๐, we hear a very common response: the kids like them, and it gives her a break.
๐ช๐ต๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐๐ธ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฟ ๐๐๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ต๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ, so she can get that break, the stories are mixed. Some fathers are just so kind and lovely. Others are really not.
๐ช๐ต๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐๐ธ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐บ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ผ๐ฑ, they say they are sick of it. Mothers are fed up of making all the planning decisions and taking all the burden. The mental load is real.
๐ข๐๐ฟ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ถ๐ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ป๐ฒ๐ ๐ฒ๐ณ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ณ๐ผ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ด๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฑ๐๐ป๐ฎ๐บ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ฒ๐น๐น-๐ป๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐บ๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐ฒ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น. Find out more about our work involving many incredible partners: LSHTM, VARRAT, Ekjut, Design Jatra, DCOR, NIN, ISB, Ogilvy & University of Sheffield.
Photo credits: Animesh Satapathy & Aakriti Gupta