How has coronavirus affected the division of domestic labour?

How has coronavirus affected the division of domestic labour? How has the division of family responsibilities for childcare, housework and home ... Home About AnswersByTopic DataHub TalkingEconomics ECOMagazine ECOatCOP26 Askaquestion Experts ResearchHub SubmitEvidence Videos JoinUs Followus FontSize Decrease / Increase Mode Light / Dark Share Families&households •9Jun2020 Howhascoronavirusaffectedthedivisionofdomesticlabour? Howhasthedivisionoffamilyresponsibilitiesforchildcare,houseworkandhomeschoolingbeenaffectedbylockdown?Whiletheextraburdenof‘homeproduction’hasfallenmoreonwomen,newwaysofworkingmayencourageamoreequalallocationwithinhouseholdsinfuture. Peoplearespendingmuchmoretimeathomeduringlockdown.Thishasmeantashocktothedemandforhomeproduction:morechildcareandhomeschoolingbecauseschoolsandnurseriesareclosed;andpossiblymorehouseworkbecauseofmoretimeathomeandbecauseoptionstopurchasegoodsandservicesarerestricted.Atthesametime,therehasalsobeenashocktothesupplyofhomeproductionasmanypeoplewhohavelosttheirjobsnowhavemoretimeontheirhands. Theburdenofextrahomeproductionhasfallenunequallyonwomenwiththepotentialforlong-termnegativeimpactsontheirwagesandjobprospects,aswellaspotentiallycreatingtensionswithinhouseholds.Morepositively,newwaysofworking–andthefactthatmanyfathersarealsonowdoingmore–mayhelptochangegendernormsandleadtoamoreequalallocationinsomehouseholdsinthelongerterm. Whatdoesevidencefromeconomicresearchtellus? Womenhavebeenmorelikelytolosetheirjobsthanmenduringthecrisis.Inpart,thisisbecausetheyworkinsectorsthataremoreadverselyaffectedbylockdown.Buttheneedforthemtoprovideadditionalchildcaremayalsohaveplayedarole. Familieswithyoungchildrenaredoingtheequivalentofaworkingweekinchildcare. Womenaredoingthemajority(morethan60%)oftheadditionalchildcare.Thiscannotbeexplainedbythefactthattheyarelesslikelytobeworking:theytypicallydohighlevelsofchildcareevenwhentheyareworkingfromhomeoratwork.Theincreaseinjugglingwillhavedamagingeffectsontheirproductivityandfuturecareerprospects. Menhavealsosubstantiallyincreasedthechildcareandhouseworktheydocomparedwithbeforethecrisis.Buttheirchildcaretimeismoresensitivetotheiremploymentthanitisforwomen.Theyarealsospecialisingincertaintypesofchildcareactivities(homeschoolingandplay)andhousework(groceryshopping). Nevertheless,moreequaldistributionsofresponsibilitiesinmanyhouseholdsandnewwaysofworking(notablyincreasedhomeworking)mayleadtolonger-termchangesingendernorms. Theadditionalburdenofchildcareandhouseworkmayalsocreatetensionswithinthehousehold,withpotentiallynegativeeffectsonthementalhealthofadultsandchildren,andperhapsfeedingintofamilyinstability. Howreliableistheevidence? Differencesinemploymenteffects Severalstudiesshowthat,unlikeinpreviousrecessions,womenaremorelikelytolosetheirjobsthanmen.Socialdistancingmeasureshavehadalargerimpactonsectorsthathaveahighshareofwomenemployees(JoyceandXu,2020;Alonetal,2020).Inaddition,evenwherewomenworkinsectorsthathavenotbeenshutdown,theyaremorelikelytoworkinjobsthatcanbedonefromhome(HupkauandPetrongolo,2020). Surveyevidenceconfirmsthatwomenweremorelikelytolosetheirjobintheearlystagesofthecrisis: Onestudyfindsthatbymid-April,womenwere5percentagepointsmorelikelythanmentolosetheirjobintheUK.IntheUnitedStates,thegapwas8percentagepoints(Adams-Prassletal,2020). AlaterstudyfindsthatbyMay,mothersofyoungchildrenwere9percentagepointslesslikelystilltobeworkingthanfathers(Andrew etal,2020). Afurtherstudyconfirmsthesefindings(SevillaandSmith,2020).ByMay,womenwere5percentagepointslesslikelythanmenstilltobeworking(and3percentagepointsmorelikelytobeonfurloughand2percentagepointsmorelikelytohavelosttheirjobs). Inthesamesurvey,thegendergapamongthosewithyoungchildrenwaslarger,at10percentagepoints.Theyresearchersalsofindthattheprobabilitythatwomenarenotworkingispositivelycorrelatedwiththeshareofchildcarethattheydidbeforethecrisis,indicatingthatchildcareresponsibilitiesplayarole. Totaladditionalchildcare Surveysshowthatfamilieswithyoungchildrenaredoingtheequivalentofaworkingweekofadditionalchildcare,oftenontopofpaidwork: TheAdams-Prassletal(2020a)surveyaskedmenandwomentoreporthoursspentlookingafterchildrenandhomeschooling.Combiningthetwoactivities,themeantotalchildcareacrossweekdays(fivedays)is35hours.Thisaveragesacrossallfamilies. TheSevillaandSmith(2020)surveyaskedrespondentstoreportthenumberofhoursofadditionalchildcaredoneperdaybythemselvesandtheirpartners.Themeanadditionalchildcareacrosstheweek(sevendays)is49hoursperhousehold(themedianis40).Thisaveragesacrossfamilieswithyoungchildren(thoseaged12andunder). Womenbearingthebruntofchildcare Time-usesurveyevidenceshowsthatwomendomorechildcareandhouseworkinnormaltimes(Cattanetal,2020;GimenezNadalandSevilla,2012;Sevilla,2010).Recentsurveysconfirmthatthisisalsothecaseduringthecrisis: IntheAdams-Prassletal(2020a)survey,womenintheUKreportdoingapproximatelyanhourandahalfmorechildcareperworkdaythanmen. IntheAndrew etal(2020)survey,womenreportdoingchildcareinmorethan10hour-longtimeslotsinaday,whilemenreportdoingchildcareduring8hour-longtimeslots. SevillaandSmith(2020)calculatethewithin-householdchildcareallocation,findingthat,onaverage,womenareresponsiblefordoing63%oftheadditionalchildcare. Anincreaseinfathers’contributions Fathersareneverthelessdoingalotofchildcareandsubstantiallymorethanbeforethecrisis.TheSevillaandSmith(2020)surveyfindsthatmendoanaverageof19additionalhoursperweek,comparedwith30donebywomen.Butmen’sdomesticlabourisdistinctivetothatofwomen: Men’schildcaretimeismuchmoresensitivetotheiremploymentthanitisforwomen.SevillaandSmith(2020)showthatwomenwhoareworkingdoasmuchchildcareasmenwhoareonfurloughandthatthereisonlyamoreequalallocationwhenmenarenotworking. Similarly,Andrew etal(2020)findthatmotherswhohavestoppedworkingforpayduringlockdownwhiletheirpartnercontinuestoworkendupdoingtwiceasmuchchildcareandhouseworkastheirpartner.Inthereversesituation,infamilieswherethefatherhasstoppedworking,theparentssharechildcareandhouseworkequally. Mentendtospecialiseindifferenttaskstowomen.Theydorelativelymorehomeschoolingthanlookingafterchildren(Andrew etal,2020;FarreandGonzalez,2020)andmoreplayingthanhomeschooling(Carlsonetal,2020).Theyalsospecialiseingroceryshopping,whiledoingamoreequaldivisionoftotalhousework. ThisistrueforSpain(FarreandGonzalez,2020),theUnitedStates(Birolietal,2020)andItaly,theUKandtheUnitedStates(Carlsonetal,2020).FarreandGonzales(2020)suggestthatgroceryshoppingisarelativelyeasyout-of-householdtaskandperceivedascarryingmorerisk. Potentialchangesingendernorms Thereis,asyet,nodirectevidenceontheimpactofCovid-19ongendernorms.Inmanyhouseholds,womenaredoingmorechildcare,andpre-existingnormsmaybecomeentrenched. Butsomehouseholds,particularlythosewheremenarenotworking,arenowexperiencingamoreequalgenderdivisionandthismayleadtolonger-termpositivechanges,particularlyiftheyarecombinedwithnewwaysofworking(moreworkingfromhome).SevillaandSmith(2020)reportthat28%ofthosewhoarecurrentlyworkingfromhomedidnotpreviouslydoso. Previousresearchonthelong-termeffectsofchangesindomesticlabourhasmixedresults.Theevidenceongenderanddisasterssuggestsstrong‘reversiontothenorm’–thatis,thingsreturningtotheirlong-termaverages(PeekandFothergill,2008;Alwayetal,1998).Someevidencefrompaternityleavepoliciessuggeststhattemporarychangescanhavelonger-termeffectsonsocialnorms,shownbyincreasesinthetimethatfathersspendinhouseholdactivities,includingchildcare(FarreandGonzalez,2019;Patnaik,2019). TwothingsaredistinctiveabouttheCovid-19lockdown.Thefirstisthescaleofthedemand-sideshock.Thechangeshavebeenprofound.Thetotalamountofchildcarebeingdoneathomeisofacompletelydifferentordertousualamountsbecauseoftheclosureofalmostallformalchildcare.Theimpacthasalsobeenacrosstheboard,affectingallfamilies,meaningthatalmostallmenhaveincreasedthequantityofchildcarethattheydo. Buttheseconddifferenceisthatthisisnotadeliberatepolicytopromoteamoreequaldistributionofchildcare:changesinthedivisionoflabourareunintendedconsequencesofmeasurestostopavirusspreading.Thechangesthathavebeenbroughtaboutmayneedtoberecognisedandreinforcedtohavelonger-termeffects. Effectsontensionandmentalhealth Thereisevidencethattheburdenofchildcareanditsallocationmayleadtotensionswithinthehouseholdandaffectthementalhealthofparents.Onestudyfindsthathouseholdsthatsharechildcaregenerallyreportthelowestlevelsoftension,butthattherearesubsetsofsharingrespondentsthatalsoreporthighlevelsoftensionsandtheyvarybycountry(Birolietal,2020): RespondentsinItalythatreportthehighesttensionarethosewhoeithercontinuetobesolelyresponsibleforchildcareorthosewhohaveseenareallocationofchildcaretothemselvesfromsharedandoutsourcedprovision. ThisisdifferenttotheUK,wherethehighesttensionsarereportedbyrespondentswhoarenowsharingmoreofthechildcarethanbeforelockdown,regardlessofwhethertheywerepreviouslysolelyresponsibleortheirpartnerwas. TheUSsampleissomewhatinbetweenwithhighesttensionsreportedbyboththosewhohaveseenanincreaseintheirloadandthosewhoshareandwerepreviouslysolelyresponsible.Intermsofwellbeing,womeninallthreesamplesreportedconsistentlyhigheranxietythanmen,andtheyreportedlowerwellbeingthanmeninbothItalyandtheUK,whiletheaveragesarecloserforwomenandmenintheUSsample. AseparatestudyalsofindsthatlockdownintheUnitedStateshasbeenlinkedtolowermentalhealthamongwomen(andnotmen)andanincreaseinthegendermentalhealthgap,linkedtoworriesaboutfinanceandchildcare(Adams-Prassletal,2020b). WherecanIfindoutmore? Inequalityintheimpactofthecoronavirusshock:evidencefromrealtimesurveys:AbiAdams-Prassl,TeodoraBoneva,MartaGolinandChristopherRauhhaveaprojecttosurveypeopleintheUK,GermanyandtheUnitedStatesprovidingreal-timeinformationonlabourmarketeffectsofthecrisis. TheimpactofCovid-19ongenderequality:TitanAlon,MatthiasDoepke,JaneOlmstead-RumseyandMicheleTertiltprovideevidenceoftheeffectofthepandemicongenderequalityintheUnitedStates. Howaremothersandfathersbalancingworkandfamilyunderlockdown?AlisonAndrewandcolleaguesatIFS. Babysteps:ThegenderdivisionofchildcareduringtheCOVID19pandemic:AlmudenaSevillaandSarahSmith. Lifeinlockdown:whatishappeningtothedivisionofchildcareandhousework?PietroBiroli,StevenBosworth,MarinaDellaGiusta,AmaliaDiGirolamo,SylviaJaworskaandJeremyVollen. WhoareUKexpertsonthisquestion? AbiAdams-Prassl AlisonAndrew SarahCattan MarinaDellaGiusta ChristineFarquharson AlmudenaSevilla SarahSmith Author:MarinaDellaGiusta PhotobyAnnieSprattforUnsplash RecentQuestions Viewallarticles Charities&volunteering HowhasCovid-19affectedcharitablegiving? Health,physical&mental Update:Howmightchangestosocialcarefundingaffectdifferentserviceusers? Publicspending,taxes&debt WhateffectwillNorthernIreland’sspendlocalschemehaveontheeconomy? RelatedQuestions Howiscoronavirusaffectinginequalitiesacrossethnicgroups? Whocanworkfromhomeandhowdoesitaffecttheirproductivity? Whatwillbetheimpactofthecrisisonhouseholdfinances? Readmore Families&households Inequality&poverty Experts MarinaDellaGiusta UniversityofReading ViewProfile AlisonAndrew IFS ViewProfile SarahCattan IFS ViewProfile ChristineFarquharson IFS ViewProfile AlmudenaSevilla UCL ViewProfile SarahSmith UniversityofBristol ViewProfile AbiAdams-Prassl UniversityofOxford,IFS,CEP ViewProfile Doyouhaveaquestionsurroundinganyofthesetopics?Orareyouaneconomistandhaveananswer? AskaQuestion OR SubmitEvidence FundedBy Contributingorganisations