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COVID-19 increases the existing gender divide between men and women in reconciling work and family life
The task of reconciling work and family life is different between men and women, e.g., women carry out on average 13 more hours a week than men of unpaid work, especially related to family care and household duties
The shut down of practically all activities to stop the spread of the pandemic, including schools and day-care centers, has forced parents to work remotely alongside children also schooling from home. However, the impact of these changes has affected men and women differently, with an unequal share in family care and household chores. According to the latest COVID-19: IvieExpress report, developed by Ivie researchers José Ramos and Alicia Gómez, the pandemic has placed extra pressure on women since already before the pandemic they spent 85 minutes more per day on household chores and caring for family members than men.
On average, men spend more hours per week on income-generating activities (38.8 hours) in comparison to women (32.9 hours). However, working women spend on average 27 hours a week doing non-compensated housework activities, mainly caring for family and doing house chores, while working men spend only 14. Digging deeper into the numbers, if we combine paid and unpaid work, women work a total of 60 hours per week compared to men who work 53 hours. These differences are similar in the case of full- and part-time workers, families with and without children, and working and non-working couples.
At home, 47.5% of women provide daily childcare for their children or grandchildren, as compared to 31.7% of men. In addition, they spent an average of 39 minutes more than men each day on child education and care and 46 minutes more on cooking and house chores. Gender differences in the time spent on paid and unpaid work mean that reconciling work and personal life is much more demanding for women, compared to their male colleagues. Therefore, it is evident that the pressure to reconcile family and work during the COVID-19 crisis is greater for women than men, because the former dedicate more time to caring for their school-age children, who are now doing school from home.
Furthermore, the workforce composition by sex differs by branch of activity and by occupation, making telework also gender biased. For example, 25% of women work in productive sectors which are more likely to telework, such as education and health and social services, which have a teleworking potential of 52% and 31%, respectively; while 27% of men work in sectors with less possibility to work from home, such as manufacturing (15.5%) and construction (11%). In other words, women have more possibilities of remote working, at the same time that their children are also at home studying. These problems with reconciling work and family affect 4.5 million Spanish households with children under the age of 14, and to a more serious degree to 1.88 million single-parent households, of which 81% are single mothers.
The current situation of the educational system, as well as the uncertainties on how schools will reopen in September may further complicate the need to reconcile work and family. If the situation is prolonged in time, it may result in more serious consequences for work and family, as well as on women’s health, according to the authors of the report. The researchers believe that the seriousness of the situation may be a good opportunity to redistribute household work between men and women.
In addition, businesses and government administrations should encourage a better control of work schedules, reduction of work hours, grouping of working days or work distribution. However, they also warn of the risk of limiting part-time jobs only to women. On the other hand, the document insists on the need to strengthen the professional care system in Spain as its neighboring countries have done, since it only represents 0.8 of the nation’s GDP, half the level of UK or Germany and a third of the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark or Sweden. Finally, the authors highlight that, until schools reopen, contingency plans will have to be established, a further development of the care economy will be needed so as not to leave children under the care of grandparents, other relatives or parents who are teleworking, or force families to pay for emergency childcare.
