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The COVID-19 Pandemic and Gendered Division of Paid and Unpaid Work: Evidence from India

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  • Deshpande, Ashwini

    (Ashoka University)

Abstract

Examining high frequency national-level panel data from Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) on paid work (employment), unpaid work (time spent on domestic work) and incomes, this paper examines the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the gender gaps in paid and unpaid work through the lockdown and recovery phases. The first month of the national lockdown, April 2020, saw a large contraction in employment for both men and women, where more men lost jobs in absolute terms. Employment has recovered by August 2020 for men. However, for women, the likelihood of being employed is 9.5 percentage points lower than that for men, compared to the pre-pandemic period. Men spent more time on housework in April 2020, but by August the average male hours had declined, though not to the pre-pandemic levels. Time spent with friends fell sharply for both men and women in April, to recover in August, but not to the pre-pandemic levels. The paper also examines available income data to find the sharpest contraction of incomes in the rural sector for both men and women.

Suggested Citation

  • Deshpande, Ashwini, 2020. "The COVID-19 Pandemic and Gendered Division of Paid and Unpaid Work: Evidence from India," IZA Discussion Papers 13815, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13815
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Fenske, James & Gupta, Bishnupriya & Yuan, Song, 2020. "Demographic shocks and women’s labor market participation : evidence from the 1918 influenza pandemic in india," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1286, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    2. Alison Andrew & Sarah Cattan & Monica Costa Dias & Christine Farquharson & Lucy Kraftman & Sonya Krutikova & Angus Phimister & Almudena Sevilla, 2022. "The gendered division of paid and domestic work under lockdown," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(4), pages 325-340, December.
    3. Fenske, James & Gupta, Bishnupriya & Yuan, Song, 2020. "Demographic shocks and women’s labor market participation : evidence from the 1918 influenza pandemic in india," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1286, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    4. Ashwini Deshpande & Naila Kabeer, 2019. "(In)Visibility, Care and Cultural Barriers: The Size and Shape of Women's Work in India," Working Papers 1016, Ashoka University, Department of Economics.
    5. Clarence D. Long, 1958. "The Labor Force under Changing Income and Employment," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number long58-1, March.
    6. Sabarwal, Shwetlena & Sinha, Nistha & Buvinic, Mayra, 2010. "How do women weather economic shocks ? a review of the evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5496, The World Bank.
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    Cited by:

    1. Alfonsi, Livia & Namubiru, Mary & Spaziani, Sara, 2022. "Gender Gaps: Back and Here to Stay? Evidence from Skilled Ugandan Workers during COVID-19," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt44s4b2dk, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    2. Bina Agarwal, 2022. "Imperatives of recognising the complexities: gendered impacts and responses to COVID-19 in India," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 39(1), pages 31-53, April.
    3. Dharshani Thennakoon & Shalini Dananja Kumari Wanninayake & Pavithra Kailasapathy, 2022. "Honey, How Can I Help? Gender and Distribution of Unpaid Labour during COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-17, November.
    4. Nikita Sangwan & Swati Sharma, 2022. "Labor Market Shocks, Social Protection And Women’s Work," IEG Working Papers 453, Institute of Economic Growth.
    5. Dang, Hai-Anh H. & Nguyen, Cuong Viet & Carletto, Calogero, 2023. "Did a successful fight against COVID-19 come at a cost? Impacts of the pandemic on employment outcomes in Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    6. Farzana Afridi & Amrita Dhillon & Sanchari Roy, 2021. "The gendered crisis: livelihoods and mental well-being in India during COVID-19," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-65, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak & Edward Miguel, 2022. "The Economics of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Poor Countries," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 14(1), pages 253-285, August.
    8. Chakravorty, Bhaskar & Bhatiya, Apurav Yash & Imbert, Clément & Lohnert, Maximilian & Panda, Poonam & Rathelot, Roland, 2021. "Impact of COVID-19 Crisis on Rural Youth: Evidence from a Panel Survey and an Experiment," GLO Discussion Paper Series 909, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    9. Palacios-Lopez,Amparo & Newhouse,David Locke & Pape,Utz Johann & Khamis,Melanie & Weber,Michael & Prinz,Daniel, 2021. "The Early Labor Market Impacts of COVID-19 in Developing Countries : Evidence from High-Frequency Phone Surveys," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9510, The World Bank.
    10. Sinha Roy,Sutirtha & Van Der Weide,Roy, 2022. "Poverty in India Has Declined over the Last Decade But Not As Much As Previously Thought," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9994, The World Bank.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    incomes; COVID-19; lockdown; employment; gender; time use; India;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • J6 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers
    • O53 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East

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