There’s early evidence that the pandemic has exacerbated—not improved—the gender gap in work hours, which could have enduring consequences for mothers who work outside the home.
“Our findings indicate mothers are bearing the brunt of the pandemic and may face long-term employment penalties as a consequence,” says Caitlyn Collins, assistant professor of sociology at Washington University in St. Louis and coauthor of the study.
Between March and April, mothers’ work hours fell four to five times as much as fathers’ did, according to the study in Gender, Work and Organization.
While mothers scaled back their work hours by about 5%, or two hours per week, fathers’ work hours remained largely stable. The impact was greatest among mothers of primary school-aged children or younger children for whom caregiving and homeschooling demands are most intense.
Pandemic Gender Gap
Collins and coauthors—Liana Christin Landivar at the Maryland Population Research Center; Leah Ruppanner at the University of Melbourne; and William Scarborough at the University of North Texas—used data from the US Current Population Survey to assess how dual-earner heterosexual married couples with children adjusted their work during the pandemic from February through April. The monthly labor statistics survey includes information from approximately 60,000 households across the United States.
They also examined a subset of households in which both mothers and fathers are employed in telecommuting-capable occupations. They found across all models, fathers’ predicted work hours did not fall below 40 hours per week, indicating that while the pandemic had a major toll on all aspects of society, most fathers in heterosexual, dual-earner households continued to put in a full work week.
“Even among households in which both parents are able to work f ..
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