Share The Load: B-Town Urges To Combat Domestic Violence By Dividing Daily Chores

In order to address and combat the increasing cases of domestic violence and mental health struggles during the lockdown, celebrities have come together to raise awareness on these issues in a recent video. Made in collaboration with WIFT (Women in Films and Television India), this video focusses on all degrees of domestic violence and harassment including the lack of consideration shown in Indian households when it comes to dividing the domestic duties. 

Helmed by Richa Chadha, the video features an illustrious line up of artists including Kalki Koechlin, Angad Bedi, Amyra Dastur, Mallika Dua, Cyrus Sahukar, Ali Fazal, Pulkit Samrat, and Adil Hussain. Richa who happens to be on the advisory board of WIFT India can be seen saying, “Times like these are a real test of patience and gratitude.”  

The video focusses on how sharing household chores can effectively help everyone in reducing all the emotional stress and pandemic anxiety that they must be experiencing right now. The aim of the video is to establish that venting it out on someone else is just not the way to go about it, and the need right now is to lessen the burden of our household heroes instead of making things worse for them. 

Thus, you can see stars talking about how they are dividing everyday chores and moving forward in this difficult time. Kalki Koechlin, for instance, shares how she made breakfast while her partner did his part of the job by taking their dog out for a walk. In the video, Angad Bedi speaks about how this is the best time to spend some quality time with your family while you cook, paint, and clean with them instead of taking it out on them. Kirti Kharbanda addresses the elephant in the room as she comments on mental health and how we can tend to it by indulging in happy activities during the lockdown. Towards the end of the video, stars urge everyone to participate in household chores as they say, “Please share the load, bas kuch din aur.”

Watch the video here:

“The agenda of the video was to highlight the emotional stress people are going through and how that often leads to several things including domestic violence. This is a problem across the world and a campaign like this effectively speaks to a wide audience. Women could possibly be trapped and locked down at home unable to muster the courage to report crimes against them. The elderly could be feeling particularly hopeless in such situation. We urge anyone going through trauma to take to counselling on the helpline numbers available,” Richa said in a recent media statement. 

This is a great initiative given the recent spike in domestic violence ever since the lockdown started. As per the NCW data, the organisation received a total of 587 complaints in the period between March 23 and April 16, which was a sharp increase when compared to the numbers registered before the pandemic. Thus, the need of the hour is to take cognizance of our women, their safety, and their emotional needs. And while we have a long way to go, we can all start with reducing their burden and sharing the household chores.