The COVID-19 pandemic has been quietly reshaping relationships across the globe and in Malta. Life in lockdown, whether full or partial, has made it necessary to adjust to increased time spent with families and partners, while social distancing has created a sense of isolation from friends, vulnerable loved ones and communities at large.
The high-pressure environment of confinement, combined with financial stressors brought about by an economy burdened by uncertainty, appears to have fuelled a rise in marital conflict, as recently reported by Times of Malta.
The evidence of marital discord so far comes from family lawyers we spoke to who have reported a substantial rise in the number of couples seeking advice on separation. The evidence being anecdotal, the toll taken on relationships is still far from fully understood.
It appears that, in more extreme cases, conflicts arising during lockdown have led to surges in reported cases of domestic violence. Similar increases have also been reported in many other countries within Europe including France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Another challenge that families have been facing is the increased burden of care as a result of quarantine measures and home-schooling situations. Often, women have ended up shouldering a greater burden due to typically unequal divisions in household labour. The upshot is that women’s ability to participate in the workforce has been perilously compromised. And with lingering uncertainties over summer schooling, that issue persists to some extent.
Women workers were also disproportionately affected by the pandemic in particular sectors. Not only are women more likely to take care of homebound families but they are overrepresented in those industries and services, including tourism, hospitality and retail, which were most severely affected by the coronavirus outbreak.
When navigating personal conflicts and financial strains within family relationships, people often turn to their friends and wider communities for support. However, given the social distancing measures that took root both physically and psychologically, many people found themselves isolated from the usual support systems.
A compounding factor is the digital divide, between people who have access to connective technologies and those who do not. Senior citizens less familiar with online communication were less connected to their families during quarantine. Individuals with difficulty accessing a stable internet connection or functional device due to financial or other instabilities were equally at risk of exclusion and withdrawal.
At the other end of the scale, a lot of younger people immersed themselves in the potential of digital social platforms to form new connections. While virtual friendships can be powerful catalysts for community building and even social change, as is being seen in the Black Lives Matter movement, there have been concerns that an almost exclusive focus on social media could compound adolescent loneliness.
Despite these challenges, the pandemic has presented an opportunity for a critical re-evaluation of people’s closest relationships. While some couples discovered that the impossibility of maintaining civil relations at close quarters was the final straw in their flagging relationships, some families discovered the benefits of spending more quality time together within their homes.
Whether on the level of couples, families or communities, the restructuring of relationships initiated by COVID-19 will continue to have far-reaching implications for the foreseeable future, with marital discord only the most visible consequence.
It is equally true, though, that a greater sense of community support has emerged. Whether these seeds of solidarity can be nurtured into something sustainable, and buck the national trend towards individualism and unrestrained consumption, remains to be seen.