Abstract
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the division of household labour could continue to lock down or start to break gender roles. Using time-use data of n = 473 individuals collected during the lockdown restrictions in Belgium from March to May 2020, we analyse the gendered division of routine and non-routine household labour in absolute time use and relative shares. We compare against the Belgian time-use data of 2013 for the same time period (n = 678 individuals). A time-demanding work and living situation associate with an increase in men’s time spent on household labour during the lockdown but not with a change in women’s time use. The gender gap closes in absolute time but not in relative shares of routine and non-routine household labour. The limited impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the gender division of household labour indicates a temporal rather than a substantial change in
gender roles.
gender roles.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 654-680 |
| Number of pages | 27 |
| Journal | Journal of Family Issues |
| Volume | 44 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Early online date | 1 Nov 2021 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Mar 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© The Author(s) 2021.
Copyright:
Copyright 2023 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
Keywords
- gender equality
- household labour
- COVID-19 pandemic
- time-use data
- routine domestic work