Distributed / Remote work is gaining acceptance because of the COVID-19 lockdown. That is great but there will be some unseen and possibly unpleasant issues cropping up. A lot of young Indians live in joint families or with parents until they graduate. If jobs are in a distributed environment they won’t need to change cities or live alone.
Rejoicing remote work culture is great but since its not happening organically or voluntarily, some unpleasant things will happen. Many young Indians, live with their parents while completing their college degrees or even through their first job. This is even more so acute for women. Moving out of a parent’s house, moving into a different city is the first experience at autonomy a lot of youngsters get in India.
Additionally, many women with children prefer to work in a physical office, so they get those 10 hours away from their children, their spouses, and in-laws as it happens with a lot of joint families. Women are often simply expected to do housekeeping work more than men.
I fear we might see this movement end up getting used to keeping more tabs on women and their autonomy. These are broader questions that need some reflecting upon – as our society becomes more used to working from home.
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The post came up as a longer version of a twitter thread (👇🏼) I wrote earlier in the week.
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