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The Gendered Division of Paid and Domestic Work under Lockdown

Author

Listed:
  • Andrew, Alison

    (Institute for Fiscal Studies, London)

  • Cattan, Sarah

    (Institute for Fiscal Studies, London)

  • Costa Dias, Monica

    (Institute for Fiscal Studies, London)

  • Farquharson, Christine

    (Institute for Fiscal Studies, London)

  • Kraftman, Lucy

    (Institute for Fiscal Studies, London)

  • Krutikova, Sonya

    (Institute for Fiscal Studies, London)

  • Phimister, Angus

    (Institute for Fiscal Studies, London)

  • Sevilla, Almudena

    (London School of Economics)

Abstract

COVID-19 has uprooted many aspects of parents' daily routines, from their jobs to their childcare arrangements. In this paper, we provide a novel description of how parents in England living in two-parent opposite-gender families are spending their time under lockdown. We find that mothers' paid work has taken a larger hit than that of fathers', on both the extensive and intensive margins. We find that mothers are spending substantially longer in childcare and housework than their partners and that they are spending a larger fraction of their paid work hours having to juggle work and childcare. Gender differences in the allocation of domestic work cannot be straightforwardly explained by gender differences in employment rates or earnings. Very large gender asymmetries emerge when one partner has stopped working for pay during the crisis: mothers who have stopped working for pay do far more domestic work than fathers in the equivalent situation do.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew, Alison & Cattan, Sarah & Costa Dias, Monica & Farquharson, Christine & Kraftman, Lucy & Krutikova, Sonya & Phimister, Angus & Sevilla, Almudena, 2020. "The Gendered Division of Paid and Domestic Work under Lockdown," IZA Discussion Papers 13500, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13500
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    COVID-19; gender; childcare; Coronavirus;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs

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