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Did COVID-19 affect the division of labor within the household? Evidence from two waves of the pandemic in Italy

Author

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  • Del Boca, Daniela
  • Oggero, Noemi
  • Profeta, Paola
  • Rossi, Maria
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic impact on families’ lives, with parents all over the world struggling to meet the increased demands of housework, childcare and home-schooling. Much of the additional burden has been shouldered by women, particularly in countries with a traditionally uneven division of household labor. Yet the dramatic increase in remote work from home since the pandemic also has the potential to increase paternal involvement in family life and thus to redress persistent domestic gender role inequalities. This effect depends on the working arrangements of each partner, whether working remotely, working at their usual workplace or ceasing work altogether. We examine the role of working arrangements during the pandemic on the traditional division of household labor in Italy using survey data from interviews with a representative sample of working women conducted during the two waves of COVID-19 (April and November 2020). Our data show that the gender gap in household care related activities was widest during the first wave of the pandemic, and although it was less pronounced during the second wave, it was still higher than pre-COVID-19. The time spent by women on housework, childcare, and assisting their children with distance learning did not depend on their partners’ working arrangements. Conversely, men spent fewer hours helping with the housework and distance learning when their partners were at home. It is interesting, however, that although men who worked remotely or not at all did devote more time to domestic chores and child care, the increased time they spent at home did not seem to lead to a reallocation of couples’ roles in housework and child care. Finally, we find that working arrangements are linked to women’s feelings of uncertainty, with heterogeneous effects by level of education.

Suggested Citation

  • Del Boca, Daniela & Oggero, Noemi & Profeta, Paola & Rossi, Maria, 2021. "Did COVID-19 affect the division of labor within the household? Evidence from two waves of the pandemic in Italy," CEPR Discussion Papers 16257, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:16257
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    Cited by:

    1. Werner, Katharina & Woessmann, Ludger, 2021. "The Legacy of COVID-19 in Education," IZA Discussion Papers 14796, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Fabrizio De Fausti & Roberta Radini & Tiziana Tuoto & Luca Valentino, 2024. "Mobile phone data for population estimates and for mobility and commuting pattern analyses," RIEDS - Rivista Italiana di Economia, Demografia e Statistica - The Italian Journal of Economic, Demographic and Statistical Studies, SIEDS Societa' Italiana di Economia Demografia e Statistica, vol. 78(1), pages 235-247, January-M.
    3. Weller, Jürgen, 2022. "Tendencias mundiales, pandemia de COVID-19 y desafíos de la inclusión laboral en América Latina y el Caribe," Documentos de Proyectos 48610, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    4. Maite BLÁZQUEZ & Ainhoa HERRARTE & Ana I. MORO-EGIDO, 2024. "Has the COVID-19 pandemic widened the gender gap in paid work hours in Spain?," JODE - Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 90(2), pages 313-348, June.
    5. Natalie Nitsche & Ansgar Hudde, 2022. "Countries embracing maternal employment opened schools sooner after Covid-19 lockdowns," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2022-008, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    6. Paola Profeta, 2021. "Gender Equality and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Labour Market, Family Relationships and Public Policy," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 56(5), pages 270-273, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Covid-19; Work arrangements; Housework; Childcare; Distance learning;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure

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