Trajectories of US parents’ divisions of domestic labor throughout the COVID-19 pandemic

Background: Research on parents’ divisions of domestic labor during the COVID-19 pandemic has focused on average changes in housework and child care during the pandemic’s first year, limiting our understanding of variation in parents’ experiences as well as the long-term consequences of the pandemic for gender inequality. Objective: This study identifies distinct patterns of change in US parents’ divisions of housework and child care from spring 2020 to fall 2023 and factors associated with changes in parents’ divisions of domestic labor. Methods: We use five waves of survey data (2020–2023) from partnered US parents along with group-based trajectory and fixed effects models to identify longitudinal trajectories of parents’ divisions of housework and child care, and key factors associated with these trajectories. Results: Most US parents (75%–80%) maintained the same division of domestic labor throughout the pandemic. Nonetheless, one-quarter experienced long-term changes. Parents were equally as likely to transition to a nontraditional division of housework as to a traditional one (10%) but were four times more likely to transition to a nontraditional division of child care than to a traditional division (21% vs. 5%). Parents were more likely to shift toward a nontraditional division of domestic labor when mothers worked full-time (and earned more income) and fathers worked from home at least sometimes during the pandemic. Contribution: Overall, results suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic affected the long-term division of domestic labor in only a minority of families. Where change has occurred, however, it has been long-lasting, and in the case of child care, the change has tended to reduce gender inequalities rather than exacerbate them.