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Working from Home and COVID-19: The Chances and Risks for Gender Gaps

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  • Melanie Arntz

    (ZEW Mannheim - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research)

  • Sarra Ben Yahmed

    (ZEW Mannheim - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research)

  • Francesco Berlingieri

    (ZEW Mannheim - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research)

Abstract

As the COVID-19 pandemic causes a record number of people to work from home, this disruptive event will likely have a long-lasting impact on work arrangements. Given existing research on the effects of working from home on hours worked and wages, an increased availability of working from home may provide a chance for women to catch up with their male counterparts. Yet, the need to simultaneously care for children during the COVID-19 lockdown may also revive traditional gender roles, potentially counteracting such gains. We discuss the likely effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on gender gaps in the labour market and at home in light of recent empirical findings and novel statistics on the heterogeneous structure of work arrangements among couples. We construct a novel teleworkability index that differentiates between fully teleworkable, partly teleworkable and on-site jobs and find that in about a third of households the COVID-19 shock is likely to induce shifts in the intra-household allocation of tasks from mothers to fathers.

Suggested Citation

  • Melanie Arntz & Sarra Ben Yahmed & Francesco Berlingieri, 2020. "Working from Home and COVID-19: The Chances and Risks for Gender Gaps," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 55(6), pages 381-386, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:intere:v:55:y:2020:i:6:d:10.1007_s10272-020-0938-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s10272-020-0938-5
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    Cited by:

    1. Mathieu P.A. Steijn, 2024. "The persistence and nature of the labor reallocation shock during the COVID-19 crisis," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 24-047/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    2. Christina Boll & Simone Schüller, 2020. "The Situation is Serious, but Not Hopeless - Evidence-Based Considerations on the Intra-Couple Division of Childcare before, during and after the Covid-19 Lockdown," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1098, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    3. Christina Boll & Dana Müller & Simone Schüller, 2023. "Neither backlash nor convergence: dynamics of intra-couple childcare division during the Covid-19 pandemic in Germany," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 57(1), pages 1-17, December.
    4. Wu, Hongyue & Chang, Yuan & Chen, Yunfeng, 2024. "Greenhouse gas emissions under work from home vs. office: An activity-based individual-level accounting model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 353(PB).
    5. Christina Boll & Dana Müller & Simone Schüller, 2021. "Neither Backlash nor Convergence: Dynamics of Intracouple Childcare Division after the First Covid-19 Lockdown and Subsequent Reopening in Germany," CESifo Working Paper Series 9091, CESifo.
    6. Marks-Bielska, Renata & Bórawski, Piotr 1 & Sierzputowska, Anna, 2023. "Światowa Pandemia Covid-19 A Rynek Pracy W Polsce," Roczniki (Annals), Polish Association of Agricultural Economists and Agribusiness - Stowarzyszenie Ekonomistow Rolnictwa e Agrobiznesu (SERiA), vol. 2023(3).
    7. Ben Yahmed, Sarra & Cappellari, Lorenzo & Checchi, Daniele & Corak, Miles & Jenkins, Stephen P. & Neidhöfer, Guido & Tertilt, Michele & Tommasi, Mariano, 2020. "COVID-19 and inequality," ZEW policy briefs 5/2020, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    8. Ştefan-Alexandru Catană & Sorin-George Toma & Andreea Barbu, 2021. "The Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Teleworking and Education in a Romanian Higher Education Institution: An Internal Stakeholders Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-17, August.
    9. Carlo Drago & Luisa Errichiello, 2024. "Remote Work admist the Covid-19 outbreak: Insights from an Ensemble Community-Based Keyword Network Analysis," Working Papers 2024.05, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    10. Corsi, Marcella & Ilkkaracan, Ipek, 2022. "COVID-19, Gender and Labour," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1012, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    11. Ourania Tzoraki & Svetlana Dimitrova & Marin Barzakov & Saad Yaseen & Vasilis Gavalas & Hani Harb & Abas Haidari & Brian P. Cahill & Alexandra Ćulibrk & Ekaterini Nikolarea & Eleni Andrianopulu & Miro, 2021. "The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Working Conditions, Employment, Career Development and Well-Being of Refugee Researchers," Societies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-13, July.
    12. Grażyna Bartkowiak & Agnieszka Krugiełka & Sebastian Dama & Paulina Kostrzewa-Demczuk & Elżbieta Gaweł-Luty, 2022. "Academic Teachers about Their Productivity and a Sense of Well-Being in the Current COVID-19 Epidemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-18, April.
    13. Paweł Ziemba & Mateusz Piwowarski & Kesra Nermend, 2023. "Remote Work in Post-Pandemic Reality—Multi-Criteria Evaluation of Teleconferencing Software," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-20, June.
    14. Bellmann, Lutz & Hübler, Olaf, 2020. "Job Satisfaction and Work-Life Balance: Differences between Homework and Work at the Workplace of the Company," IZA Discussion Papers 13504, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Coskun, Sena & Dauth, Wolfgang & Gartner, Hermann & Stops, Michael & Weber, Enzo, 2024. "Working from Home Increases Work-Home Distances," CEPR Discussion Papers 18914, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Emanuela Ingusci & Fulvio Signore & Claudio Giovanni Cortese & Monica Molino & Paola Pasca & Enrico Ciavolino, 2023. "Development and validation of the Remote Working Benefits & Disadvantages scale," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 1159-1183, April.
    17. Nilmini M. Rathnayake & Pivithuru J. Kumarasinghe & Ajantha S. Kumara, 2022. "How Do Different Types of University Academics Perceive Work from Home Amidst COVID-19 and Beyond?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-19, April.
    18. Alexander Bick & Adam Blandin & Aidan Caplan & Tristan Caplan, 2024. "Measuring Trends in Work From Home: Evidence from Six U.S. Datasets," Working Papers 2024-023, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, revised 12 Dec 2024.
    19. Mung Khie Tsen & Manli Gu & Chee Meng Tan & See Kwong Goh, 2023. "Homeworking and Employee Job Stress and Work Engagement: A Multilevel Analysis from 34 European Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 168(1), pages 511-538, August.
    20. Christina Boll & Simone Schüller, 2020. "Die Lage ist ernst, aber nicht hoffnungslos – empirisch gestützte Überlegungen zur elterlichen Aufteilung der Kinderbetreuung vor, während und nach dem COVID-19 Lockdown," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1089, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    21. Martin Abraham & Natascha Nisic & Miriam Trübner & Hanna Walch & Anja Wunder, 2024. "The role of generalized trust and control in the employment of domestic help – An experimental case study for Germany and the UK," Rationality and Society, , vol. 36(2), pages 230-253, May.
    22. Anika Intesar, 2021. "An Untold Pandemic: Triple Burden of Working Women during COVID-19 Pandemic in Dhaka, Bangladesh," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 5(5), pages 510-518, May.
    23. Jolene Tan & Jeremy Lim-Soh & Poh Lin Tan, 2024. "The Impact of Teleworking on Women’s Work–Life Balance and Life Satisfaction: a Longitudinal Study from Singapore," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 19(5), pages 2595-2615, October.
    24. Eva Bezak & Kristin V. Carson-Chahhoud & Loredana G. Marcu & Magdalena Stoeva & Lenka Lhotska & Gilda A. Barabino & Fatimah Ibrahim & Eleni Kaldoudi & Sierin Lim & Ana Maria Marques da Silva & Peck Ha, 2022. "The Biggest Challenges Resulting from the COVID-19 Pandemic on Gender-Related Work from Home in Biomedical Fields—World-Wide Qualitative Survey Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-16, March.
    25. Jean-Victor Alipour & Oliver Falck & Alexandra Mergener & Simone Schüller, 2020. "Wiring the Labor Market Revisited: Working from Home in the Digital Age," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 21(03), pages 10-14, September.

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