Altered Notion of Time, Space and Privacy: Teaching in times of the COVID Pandemic

Abstract

Based on an exploratory study, this article centers on teachers’ reflections on their experience of online teaching during COVID-19. Revolving around the work versus home distinction, it delineates how the experience of an online classroom whilst being present in the comfort of homes, has if not completely then significantly altered the women’s perception of work. It primarily focuses on the binaries of work-leisure and private-public and how these have been affected. The methodology is narrative based, conversational interviews, conducted with female instructors at university level in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, who have had to adapt to online teaching since the start of the pandemic. Women struggled with their private, domestic space being made public via the online class with their cameras and recordings. This was experienced under the backdrop of the cultural, patriarchal values, which altered women’s perception of work.