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Couples in lockdown, "La vie en rose" ? Evidence from France

Author

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  • Hugues Champeaux

    (CERDI - Centre d'Études et de Recherches sur le Développement International - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UCA - Université Clermont Auvergne)

  • Francesca Marchetta

    (CERDI - Centre d'Études et de Recherches sur le Développement International - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UCA - Université Clermont Auvergne)

Abstract

Stay-at-home policies due to the Covid-19 pandemic have drastically increased housework and childcare. During the lockdown, couples were harshly challenged by this novel situation which could notably redistribute roles and/or could also lead to intrahousehold conflicts. In this paper, we use individual data collected from an online survey on French partnered women during the confinement of the 2020 Spring to investigate the lockdown's effects on the household chores allocation and tensions in the couple. We show that the lockdown did not offer an opportunity to strongly renegotiate the housework and childcare division between the partners, as women still did the lion's share during this period. Men only changed their participation in household chores when they became a "quasi-leisure" because of the pandemic (as for shopping or playing with child). We also document that an unbalanced division of the increased household chores during the lockdown, in particular on cleaning and childcare, is directly linked to an increase of the intrahousehold conflicts. To conclude, this period did not structurally affect gender roles and stereotypes at home, despite minor intrahousehold changes.

Suggested Citation

  • Hugues Champeaux & Francesca Marchetta, 2021. "Couples in lockdown, "La vie en rose" ? Evidence from France," CERDI Working papers hal-03149087, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:cdiwps:hal-03149087
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://uca.hal.science/hal-03149087
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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. Hugues Champeaux & Lucia Mangiavacchi & Francesca Marchetta & Luca Piccoli, 2022. "Child development and distance learning in the age of COVID-19," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 659-685, September.
    3. Boring, Anne & Moroni, Gloria, 2023. "Turning back the clock: Beliefs about gender roles during lockdown," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    4. Chihiro Inoue & Yusuke Ishihata & Shintaro Yamaguchi, 2024. "Working from home leads to more family-oriented men," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 783-829, June.
    5. Chowdhury, Subhasish & Karmakar, Senjuti, 2022. "The Interrelationship between the COVID-19 Pandemic and Conflict Behavior: A Survey," MPRA Paper 113311, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. repec:hal:journl:hal-03627187 is not listed on IDEAS

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