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Gender division of housework during the COVID-19 pandemic: Temporary shocks or durable change?

Author

Listed:
  • Alejandra Rodríguez Sánchez

    (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)

  • Anette Fasang

    (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)

  • Susan Harkness

    (University of Bristol)

Abstract

Background: First evidence shows that lockdown and confinement measures were associated with a more egalitarian gender division of housework in the United Kingdom. However, we know little about how the gender division of housework adjusted in different phases of the pandemic. Objective: We ask: (1) How did the gender division of housework change with the first national lockdown in March 2020? (2) Did observed changes persist when the lockdown measures were lifted or did couples revert to the gender division of housework observed before lockdown? Methods: We describe changes in the share of housework done by women before, during, and after the first lockdown using data from the Understanding Society COVID-19 study and employing fixed effects regression for couples with pre-school or school age children and couples without children living at home. Results: The lockdown measures affected the gender division of housework with differential effects by the age of the youngest child in the household. After the initial shock, couples with younger children and couples with school-age children reverted to their pre-pandemic gender division of housework. However, couples without children living at home sustained a more equal share of housework. Conclusions: Like other shocks to the division of labor, couples tend to adapt to new circumstances, sustaining previous patterns of within household inequality. Initial signs of increasing gender equality at the start of the pandemic had already started to vanish for some by September 2020. Contribution: We show the effects of lockdown depend on couples’ life course stage at the time of the shock.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:45:y:2021:i:43
    DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2021.45.43
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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. Nazira Calleja & Cecilia Mota, 2022. "Mothers in Lockdown Due to COVID-19 in Mexico: Does Having a Paid Job Make a Difference?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-12, September.
    3. Alireza Sabouniha & Maryna Tverdostup, 2024. "On Within-couple Time Allocation: Gendered Disparities in Paid Work and Housework in Europe," wiiw Working Papers 250, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    4. Panayiota Lyssiotou & Ruzica Savcic, 2022. "Parents' Time Allocation in Different Phases of the Covid-19 Pandemic: Evidence from the UK and Implications for Gender Equality," University of Cyprus Working Papers in Economics 03-2022, University of Cyprus Department of Economics.
    5. Sabrina Wulff Pabilonia & Victoria Vernon, 2023. "Who is doing the chores and childcare in dual-earner couples during the COVID-19 era of working from home?," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 519-565, June.
    6. Brini, Elisa & Scherer, Stefani & Vitali, Agnese, 2023. "Gender and beyond. Employment patterns during the Covid-19 pandemic in Italy," SocArXiv bkgfc, Center for Open Science.
    7. Anna Zamberlan & Filippo Gioachin & Davide Gritti, 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.
    8. Stephanie Steinmetz & Leen Vandecasteele & Florence Lebert & Marieke Voorpostel & Oliver Lipps, 2022. "The gendered consequences of the COVID‐19 lockdown on unpaid work in Swiss dual earner couples with children," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 2034-2051, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    COVID-19; division of labor; family; gender; life course;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

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

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