April 18. In every study I have ever seen, women do way more of the household chores than their male partners – even when both are in full time employment. And that is in normal circumstances. I wonder if anything has changed during the last few weeks.

I was pondering this on my daily walk in the park – clearly a place where I do a lot of musing. There are many more women bringing the children to the park, not only more than men but more than family groups. I wonder if this extends to the supervision of schoolwork that now has to be done at home – and adds to the list of things that need parental attention.   

 I was much amused by a video clip sent to me from South Africa recently. It pictures a man scrubbing a floor – and a woman’s voice saying (in Afrikaans); “Thank you for helping me with the floor, my darling. Could you just go right into the corner? And could go a bit more quickly, my love?” During the last half of this exchange it becomes clear she has a gun pointing right at him. Go figure!