Why COVID-19 Pandemic Put Women’s Second Shift in the Spotlight?
The unequal distribution of care work and domestic chores is not a new thing, nor the fact that it is disproportionally borne by women. Many disciplines refer to this issue as “the invisible work”. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic, media all over the world draw their attention to the care economy denouncing that with stay-home orders, women are overwhelmed adding homeschooling on top of domestic tasks and their paid work. The news highlights that even if men are more engaged than ever in domestic tasks, the distribution of labor households remains far from being egalitarian. Now the women’s second shift stops being “invisible” and it is in the spotlight.
The closure of schools, daycare centers, and non-essential businesses disrupted the way we allocate our time between family, work, and leisure. For many people, especially fathers, this is the first time they assume domestic chores and care work as daily obligations. This behavioral change is a fascinating large-scale test for gender equality. It allows us to analyze to what degree the stereotype that identifies women as the main caregivers and men as the providers has been overcome. When we look through gender lens a number of questions arise:
- are men doing more household tasks and care work than before?
- are women working more despite men’s contributions?
- is it COVID-19 pandemic an opportunity to reach an equal distribution of unpaid work?
Men participate more in household responsibilities. Women continue to spend disproportionally more time than men on unpaid work.
Recent surveys in countries like the US, Spain or the United Kingdom, point out that on average, men participate more in household responsibilities while women not only persist as the main caregivers but they have increased significantly their time devoted to domestic chores.
Are men doing more household tasks and care work than before?
Yes. According to the study, “US Couples’ Divisions of Housework and Childcare during COVID-19 Pandemic” from the 1,060 US opposite-gender parents surveyed, 42% of fathers report an overall increase in housework time; 45% say they participate more in young children care, and 43% say they increased their time devoted to care older children. As for mothers, 25% say their partner increased their total time in overall household chores; 34% say their partner participates more in young children’s care and 20% in older children care.
The behavior is quite similar in Spain. Lidia Farré and Libertad González conducted a survey of 5,523 Spanish households with opposite-gender parents. Their results suggest that men spend more time on domestic tasks, contributing to a more equal distribution. Nevertheless, the division of tasks per gender persists. For instance, 38% of fathers are the main responsible for household shopping (one of the most masculinized domestic tasks) while women are responsible for cooking, clothing, and homeschooling. In the UK, the Institute for Fiscal studies surveyed 3,500 families with opposite-gender parents. The result claims that on average, fathers increased their time spent on housework and they are doing 4 more hours of childcare per day.
Are women working more despite men’s contributions?
Yes, they do. Recent research by LeanIn.org stated that 80% of US mothers are working even more than before the pandemic, with homeschooling kids and caring for sick or elderly relatives on top of their duties. Sheryl Sandberg categorized this situation as the women’s “double-double shift”. The survey conducted in the UK also reveals that mothers are devoting 2.3 hours more than fathers on childcare, and 1.7 more hours on housework since the COVID-19 pandemic. The Boston Consulting Group in a different survey reported that on average, women spend 15 hours more on domestic labor each week than men. Acknowledging that these are small samples and, therefore, not very representative, we may infer that men are doing more household tasks and care work than before the COVID-19 pandemic and women are working more despite men’s contributions.
We cannot be optimistic about further improvements in household gender equality without family-friendly policies.
Is it the COVID-19 Pandemic an opportunity to renegotiate roles and reduce domestic gender inequalities?
It may be a good start. However, in order to consolidate and improve these changes — instead of considering them as a punctual anecdote — , we need family-friendly policies that promote a better balance between work and family. In my opinion, we cannot be optimistic about further improvements in household tasks division without policies that support affordable access to child care centers, gender-neutral family leave, and flexible schedules.
Raise your hand, fight against stereotypes, measure!
Is there anything we can do to make COVID-19 an ally for gender equality?
At an individual level: raise your hand; renegotiate roles at home and ask your employer for flexibility. Engage all family members to make them understand the value of domestic chores and care work and how time-consuming this is.
At the private sector level: fight against stereotypes; recognize that both men and women have household responsibilities. Men tend to be reluctant to ask for flexibility as they may feel the pressure of “the provider” stereotype. Be open to that. According to LeanIn.org, only 40% of employees say their companies have taken steps to increase flexibility since the pandemic began, and fewer than 20% say their employer has rescheduled priorities of their work.
From a public policy perspective: measure! Anything that is not measured cannot be managed. It is time to recognize the flaws of our system regarding the care economy. To incentivize a better allocation of paid and unpaid work between men and women, public policies must take into account the way work and family are intertwined. Include the data into macroeconomic models to design better family-friendly policies.
Family-friendly policies are necessary for an equal distribution of unpaid work between men and women but the real change must start within our homes.
References
- Carlson, D. L., Petts, R., & Pepin, J. R. (2020). US Couples’ Divisions of Housework and Childcare during COVID-19 Pandemic (preprint). SocArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/jy8fn
- After a Full Month of Business Closures, Women Were Hit Hardest By April’s Job Losses. (n.d.). Retrieved May 27, 2020, from https://nwlc.org/resources/women-were-hit-hardest-by-aprils-job-losses/
- Women shoulder most of the extra work because of COVID-19. (n.d.). Retrieved May 29, 2020, from https://leanin.org/article/women-shoulder-most-of-the-extra-work-because-of-covid-19
- Miller, C. C. (2020, May 6). Nearly Half of Men Say They Do Most of the Home Schooling. 3 Percent of Women Agree. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/06/upshot/pandemic-chores-homeschooling-gender.html
- González, L. (2020, April 23). ¿Quién se encarga de las tareas domésticas durante el confinamiento? Covid-19, mercado de trabajo y uso del tiempo en el hogar. Retrieved May 29, 2020, from https://nadaesgratis.es/admin/quien-se-encarga-de-las-tareas-domesticas
- Andrew, A., Cattan, S., Dias, M. C., Farquharson, C., Kraftman, L., Krutikova, S., … Sevilla, A. (2020, May 27). How are mothers and fathers balancing work and family under lockdown? https://doi.org/10.1920/BN.IFS.2020.BN0290
-Andrew, A., Cattan, S., Dias, M. C., Farquharson, C., Kraftman, L., Krutikova, S., … Sevilla, A. (2020, May 27). Parents, especially mothers, paying heavy price for lockdown. Retrieved June 1, 2020, from https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/14861
-Easing the COVID-19 Burden on Working Parents | BCG. (n.d.). Retrieved June 1, 2020, from https://www.bcg.com/publications/2020/helping-working-parents-ease-the-burden-of-covid-19.aspx
