The Gendered Division of Paid and Domestic Work Under Lockdown

Who took care of what? The gender division of unpaid work during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in France

“…For example, studies find that the effect of time availability on the contribution to unpaid work is stronger for women than for men (Andrew et al 2020;Biroli et al 2021;Carlson, Petts, and Pepin 2020;Craig 2020;Dominguez-Folgueras 2021;Hank and Steinbach 2021;Safi et al 2020;Sevilla and Smith 2020;Zamberlan, Gioachin, and Gritti 2021). Moreover, while women with more economic resources do less unpaid work than others, the division of work is not egalitarian, even in couples where women have higher wages (Andrew et al 2020;Zamberlan, Gioachin, and Gritti 2021). Thus, in line with these findings, gender might shape the ways in which other factors influenced the division of work during the pandemic.…”

“…Because work patterns and time availability are two of the main explanatory factors for the division of unpaid work, we expect that the lockdowns had an impact on the domestic division of work and care. In this respect, most previous research relies on convenience samples and retroactive questions about the division of unpaid work before the start of the pandemic (Andrew et al 2020;Biroli et al 2021;Carlson, Petts, and Pepin 2020;Craig and Churchill 2020;Fodor et al 2020;Hipp and Bünning 2021;Kreyenfeld and Zinn 2021;Seiz 2021;Sevilla and Smith 2020). Therefore the results should be interpreted with caution.…”

“…They interpret lockdown periods as 'natural experiments' to test whether specific mechanisms are at play and can explain changes in the division of unpaid work. Overall, they find that both men and women increased their domestic and care work during the initial lockdowns at the onset of the pandemic in spring 2020 (Andrew et al 2020;Biroli et al 2021;Carlson, Petts, and Pepin 2020;Craig and Churchill 2021;Farré et al 2020;Fodor et al 2021;Hank and Steinbach 2021;Hipp and Bünning 2021;Kreyenfeld and Zinn, 2021;Safi et al 2020;Seiz 2021;Sevilla and Smith 2020;Zamberlan, Gioachin, and Gritti 2021), but these increases did not seem to translate into a more egalitarian division of unpaid work. Results are more mixed regarding the driving factors of these changes and the extent to which the gender gap narrowed over the period.…”

“…Moreover, prior research highlights that gender norms shape the ways in which the two aforementioned factors affect the division of domestic work. For example, studies find that the effect of time availability on the contribution to unpaid work is stronger for women than for men (Andrew et al 2020;Biroli et al 2021;Carlson, Petts, and Pepin 2020;Craig 2020;Dominguez-Folgueras 2021;Hank and Steinbach 2021;Safi et al 2020;Sevilla and Smith 2020;Zamberlan, Gioachin, and Gritti 2021). Moreover, while women with more economic resources do less unpaid work than others, the division of work is not egalitarian, even in couples where women have higher wages (Andrew et al 2020;Zamberlan, Gioachin, and Gritti 2021).…”

A qualitative life course perspective on covid-lockdowns and couples' division of unpaid labour

“…Available quantitative research suggests that women take up a disproportional part of unpaid labour – particularly household tasks - during lockdowns, as illustrated by findings for Italy ( Del Boca et al, 2020 ), Spain ( Farré et al, 2020 ), the UK ( Andrew et al, 2020 , Chung et al, 2021 , Hupkau and Petrongolo, 2020 , Sevilla and Smith, 2020 , Xue and McMunn, 2021 ), the US ( Dunatchik et al, 2021 , Zamarro and Prados, 2021 ), Australia ( Craig & Churchill, 2021 ), Italy (Meraviglia & Dudka, 2021), New Zealand ( Waddell et al, 2021 ), Israel ( Herzberg-Druker et al, 2022 , Yaish et al, 2021 ) or Hungary ( Fodor et al, 2021 ). However, nuances should be made.…”