Fathers’ involvement in childcare, children’s education and housework during the COVID-19 lockdown

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed daily life across the world and affected multiple social institutions. It may also have modified parents’ gendered division of labor. The existing evidence on the influence of at-home work and at-home schooling on the gender division of household labor is mixed. Objective In this paper, we study whether fathers’ participation in childcare, children’s education, and housework during the COVID-19 lockdown was influenced by the increased need for parental help with schooling and more opportunities for this due to remote work. Method We use data from an online survey of mothers living in Russia, conducted in May 2020. We compare fathers’ involvement in their children’s education and childcare before and during the lockdown and use binary logistic regression to study relationships between fathers’ work arrangements, children’s need for additional help with schooling, and an increase in fathers’ involvement. Results Fathers’ involvement in education increased after the introduction of remote schooling. An increase in involvement was more likely if fathers worked remotely during the lockdown and if the children needed additional help with schooling. However, these factors only marginally increased the likelihood of fathers becoming more involved when we controlled for their previous involvement. In line with conditional fatherhood theory, mothers’ engagement with remote schooling was almost unrelated to their employment status and work arrangements. Conclusions Our results partly support the ‘needs exposure’ hypothesis that additional family needs can increase fathers’ involvement. Evaluating the duration of these changes and their long-term effects would require further research.