In March 2022, an unexpected Covid-19 outbreak in Shanghai confined millions of citizens under lockdown at home. However, among all the economic problems and living needs, have we ever thought about the life of our stay-at-home mothers. How did the lockdown influence the mental state of full-time housewives?
 
The pandemic outbreak made the once prosperous city come to a standstill, substantially disrupting the economic and social life of local people. Under such hard time, full-time housewives bear heavier burdens of child rearing and family finance management. Their mental fatigue increases, making them become more susceptible to long-term depression.
 
First of all, limited living space during the lockdown stands as a major issue that worsened the mental condition of housewives. Children wanted to go out and play. They wanted to see their friends. But they were not allowed. Mrs. Wang’s daughter complained about this issue all the day, the daughter cried and yelled, she didn’t want to be in the home. This put unimaginable pressure on Mrs. Wang’s mental well-being. She couldn’t to sleep well, she blamed herself for her daughter’s sadness. She bore nearly 100% of the stress.
 
Apart from that, the pandemic lockdown has put many low-income families in an even worse position. Due to the economic shutdown, stay-at-home mothers are feeling more overwhelmed than ever because of the sharp decrease in family income. With these increased economic concerns, the contribution made by stay-at-home mothers for the family become more intangible as it is not rewarded by the actual monetary payment. Full-time housewives often play a dependent economic role in the family, which is easily misunderstood by the society as not working.

However, even though the lockdown in Shanghai has caused significant negative feelings among full-time housewives. There are actually some positive changes.
 
Before the lockdown, full-time housewives are the one who use nearly all the time at home, playing the multiple roles of wife, mother, housekeeper, teacher, and so on. However, family members often overlook the amount of work of house chores as they are at companies or schools, without witnessing and realizing the fatigue stay-at-home mothers experience every day. While during the lockdown, fathers start to play with their children, start to wash dishes and clean the house. They start to actually feel the triviality and heavy work of being a full-time housewife. This point is of huge importance. The support, understanding and love given by family members are invaluable.
 
In addition to that, the lockdown brought some opportunities to stay-at-home mothers in strengthening their social connections. In the past, some housewives always felt that they were outdated because they could hardly reach out to new people and absorb new knowledge as they commuted between home and children's school all the day. However, in this lockdown, neighbors in the community communicate with each other more frequently to buy supplies together and share policy-related information. In this situation, stay-at-home mothers have a chance to get to make more friends. This kind of community-based interaction is exactly part of the social support mechanism that stay-at- home mothers are encouraged to have. Mrs. Wang told me that she made several friends who live in the same building as she is, and they all like botany. They often hang out together after the lockdown, and they discuss not only about their children anymore, they start talking about how to plant the prettiest flowers at home!
 
Through the lens of Shanghai’s lockdown, we gained perspectives on full-time housewives’ living situations, their neglected difficulties, and their urgent desires. These stay-at-home mothers voluntarily weakened their economic leverage for the sake of their family. The construction of communities for these disempowered superwomen can be the best empowerment with love.