I'm grateful for this series of stories, but I want to see more coverage of women who are also caregivers for their parents and elderly relatives. We know that burden, generally, is falling disproportionately on them, too. A : https://twitter.com/mtmarch/status/1357711769276473348

Take this from @thelilynews: Before the pandemic, an ~66% of caregivers were women as of 2015. The survey found that while men are also caregivers, women spent about 50 percent more time on these duties (on avg. ~20 hours a week). https://www.thelily.com/the-latest-pandemic-work-for-women-snagging-vaccine-appointments-for-their-parents/

Women are more likely to make career sacrifices to spend time caring for their kids and parents—that often means more unpaid labor, less financial security and earning potential (especially if that means turning to part-time work or taking leave), and a host of other stressors.

The New York Times has now published literal sounds of women screaming for help. My sense is that those screams will only get louder as we navigate this impossible vaccine rollout, which has fallen on many daughters, granddaughters and women shouldering family responsibilities.

From @ChelseaCirruzzo, "people are spending hours on the phone or online, refreshing online portals in hopes of snagging an appointment for an elderly family member." From experience, this work feels like a part-time job (I've heard this from others, too). https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2021-01-14/for-many-seniors-whether-they-get-a-covid-19-vaccine-may-depend-on-their-families

This is often framed as an issue of "balance" in hetero couples. Which, sure in many cases is true, but it's an issue for single women, too. What the pandemic has laid bare is the fact that our systems weren't built to support caregivers, who are primarily women.

We need to reframe the issue from a far oversimplified (and weak) explanation that women choose to be caregivers, and examine the systems that create and perpetuate this imbalance. And then we need to fix them.

To take it back to NYT: "In a nutshell, we are holding together with the same tape that we have been using since March. The tape is barely working, but we are still here."

My question is how much longer the tape will hold, and how devastating those ripple effects will be.