Working from Home and the Division of Childcare and Housework among Dual-Earner Parents during the Pandemic in the UK

Abstract

This paper examines whether the expansion of working from home led to a more equal division of domestic work during the pandemic. We use unique data of dual-earner heterosexual couples gathered during the first lockdown in the UK when workers were required to work from home by law. Results reveal that mothers were likely to be carrying out a larger share of domestic work both before and during the lockdown. When fathers worked from home, compared to those going into work, a more equitable division was found for cleaning and routine childcare. Furthermore, homeworking fathers were up to 3.5 times more likely to report that they increased the time they spent on childcare during the lockdown compared to before. However, we also found evidence of homeworking mothers having increased their time spent on domestic work, and doing a larger share of routine childcare, compared to mothers going into work. Overall, the study shows that when working from home is normalised through law and practice, it may better enable men to engage more in domestic work, which can in turn better support women’s labour market participation. However, without significant changes to our work cultures and gender norms, homeworking still has the potential to enable or maintain a traditional division of labour, further exacerbating gender inequality patterns both at home and in the labour market.

Does the welfare regime impact the telework gender stress gap?

“…Our study therefore confirms that as regards men in more inegalitarian welfare regimes, women are themselves a resource, even more so possibly in the context of pandemic‐induced telework. This contrasts with findings of other researchers who had suggested that in the pandemic context, men were more involved in childcare and other domestic duties than before the pandemic (Andrew et al, 2020; Carlson et al, 2020) but aligns with more recent research suggesting that the pandemic‐induced telework did not alter, and even exacerbated, the gender division of labour, in contexts where gender norms have not changed (Chung et al, 2022). This is also in line with other findings suggestive that even though men may have increased their care work, women have too, such that the gender care gap has remained unchanged (Lyttelton et al, 2020; Zossou, 2021).…”

“…Overall, this paper contributes to the emergent research stream on the gendered effects of telework practices in the context of a pandemic (Chung et al, 2022;Wöhrmann & Ebner, 2021). Numerous prepandemic studies had emphasized the benefits and advantages of teleworking, concluding on the need to make telework 'the new normal' way of working (Saba et al, 2021).…”

“…After decades of slow diffusion, the acceptance of telework has dramatically accelerated during the pandemic crisis, reaching the point that telework might become the ‘new way of working’ or at least is becoming a mainstream work practice (Thulin & Vilhelmson, 2021). However, little is still known on the effects of telework design on employees' well‐being (Wöhrmann & Ebner, 2021), and its gendered effects (Chung & Booker, 2023; Chung et al, 2022), in the unexpected context of a rapidly spreading pandemic. Among the many advantages that have been debated, there seems to emerge a growing consensus on seeing telework as a solution for reducing stress at work (Gambles et al, 2006; Gershuny, 2011), for facing the rising concerns about work–family conflicts (Duxbury & Towers, 2006; Duxbury et al, 2009) and the increasing levels of work overload (Zuzanek, 2004), though the potential for telework for reducing gender gaps is questionable (Chung et al, 2022).…”

Exploring context-related challenges and adaptive responses while working from home during COVID-19

“…, 2022). For example, when fathers worked from home during the lockdown, couples were more likely to divide housework and childcare more equally (Chung et al. , 2022).…”

Children's services and the COVID‐19 pandemic in Italy: A study with educators and parents

“…In 2021, the European Union documented that the level of well‐being and mental health of citizens has reached an all‐time low, especially among those who never experienced working from home, women and those with other care commitments (Adams‐Prassl et al, 2020; Del Boca et al, 2020). Studies showed that the increase in the burden of care and the difficulty in reconciling it with working from home, the anxiety about the pandemic situation and the resulting uncertainty have increased symptoms of anxiety and burnout in male and female workers around the world, especially those with children (Arntz et al, 2020; Chung et al, 2022).…”