The most stringent restrictive measures adopted by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic were implemented between March and May of 2020. These included restrictions of movement, temporary closure of educational institutions, cultural venues, and limitations on sports and other activities. During the course of the restrictive measures, families were required to limit their movement to the premises of their place of residence, work and school were carried out from home, while social contact was limited to immediate family members, co-workers, and occasionally friends. The transformation of intra-family dynamics led to changes in the division of labour among family members, disruption of existing behavioral patterns and a change in family relationships as a whole. Within some families, tensions could quickly arise as a result of the gender-asymmetric division of domestic labour. Women were usually burdened with more domestic work, as they were unable to physically distance themselves from the increased daily load. They had a chronic lack of time not only to carry out their regular work responsibilities, but also to help their children with schoolwork, shop for food and take care of other responsibilities, which left them overwhelmed and under stress. Some women experienced an internal conflict in trying to balance paid and domestic labour, on the one hand wanting to take care of their home and family, but on the other hand they missed time with friends and extended family, travels, sleep, leisure and recreational activities. Over time, this internal conflict led to burnout, stress, exhaustion and fatigue, which could in the long-term lead to the deterioration of the mental health of working mothers.
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