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Retraditionalisation? Work patterns of families with children during the pandemic in Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Elisa Brini

    (Universitetet i Oslo)

  • Stefani Scherer

    (Università degli Studi di Trento)

  • Agnese Vitali

    (Università degli Studi di Trento)

  • Mariya Lenko

    (Università degli Studi di Trento)

Abstract

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, employment declined and real incomes fell worldwide. The burden of childcare on families increased and, in many countries, women’s employment fell more than men’s. From a couple-level perspective, changing employment patterns could lead to a retraditionalisation of gender roles between partners, especially for families with dependent children. Methods: We focus on couples with children under 16 and use quarterly large-scale micro data (the Italian Labour Force Survey) to examine, through descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regressions, the changes and composition of couples’ work patterns between 2019 and 2020. Results: During the pandemic, three types of couples declined (dual-worker couples; ‘pure’ male-breadwinner couples, where only men work; and ‘modified’ male-breadwinner couples, where women work fewer hours than men) and three increased (‘pure’ female-breadwinner couples, where only women work; ‘modified’ female-breadwinner couples, where women work more hours than men; and not-working couples). Changes were most pronounced in the second quarter of 2020, to a lesser extent, in the fourth quarter, and among the least educated. Contribution: We do not find signs of gender roles in paid work retraditionalising among couples in Italy with dependent children. Instead, our results suggest that women’s employment contributed to shield families from earnings losses at least during the second quarter of 2020, very like what happened during the Great Recession. Still, the notoriously low female employment contributed to exposing many Italian families to an increased risk of worklessness.

Suggested Citation

  • Elisa Brini & Stefani Scherer & Agnese Vitali & Mariya Lenko, 2021. "Retraditionalisation? Work patterns of families with children during the pandemic in Italy," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 45(31), pages 957-972.
  • Handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:45:y:2021:i:31
    DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2021.45.31
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Caroline Krafft & Maia Sieverding & Irene Selwaness, 2024. "The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women’s care work and employment in the Middle East and North Africa," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 51(15), pages 501-552.
    2. Elisa Brini & Stefani Scherer & Agnese Vitali, 2024. "Gender and Beyond: Employment Patterns during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 43(3), pages 1-23, June.
    3. Alejandra Rodríguez Sánchez & Anette Fasang & Susan Harkness, 2021. "Gender division of housework during the COVID-19 pandemic: Temporary shocks or durable change?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 45(43), pages 1297-1316.
    4. Marco Cozzani & Peter Fallesen & Giampiero Passaretta & Juho Härkönen & Fabrizio Bernardi, 2024. "The Consequences of the COVID‐19 Pandemic for Fertility and Birth Outcomes: Evidence from Spanish Birth Registers," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 50(S1), pages 153-176, July.
    5. Anna Zamberlan & Davide Gritti & Filippo Gioachin, 2022. "Gender inequality in domestic chores over ten months of the UK COVID-19 pandemic: Heterogeneous adjustments to partners’ changes in working hours," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 46(19), pages 565-580.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    couples; COVID-19; employment; families; breadwinning; household employment; Labour Force Survey (LFS); pandemic; women's employment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

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