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The Gender Gap and COVID Stress – In-Depth Doctor’s Interview

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Richard Petts, PhD, professor of sociology at Ball State University talks about the division of labor and the work life balance between men and women during the COVID-19 pandemic.

I wanted to ask you a little bit about why you and your colleagues were interested in division of labor, this particular topic.

Professor Petts: I think it’s a question of, we’ve all done research on just in general times in non-COVID times, and it’s something we’re interested in. I’ve done a lot of work on fatherhood and what promotes men and fathers to be more involved in the household. So, part of it was just we had this intrinsic interest anyway and we were interested in what’s going on in the world and how our families are dealing with this pandemic. In addition to that, it’s sort of this unique opportunity to sort of study things in a way we haven’t been able to in other circumstances. So, for example, a lot of people argue, and I’m one of them, that a lack of workplace support is one of the big reasons that is preventing more fathers from being involved in housework and childcare. The problem with traditional ways we do research is we can’t sort of assign fathers to some companies that have good supports and some fathers who work for companies that don’t. And so, there’s this issue of is it that it’s workplace support that matters or fathers working for companies that are more supportive so that they can be more involved at home? Well the pandemic has provided the sort of unique opportunity where for a period of time anyway, everyone except essential workers, were forced to work at home and we didn’t have to worry about whether fathers were making the choice or not. And so, we had this sort of unique opportunity to really understand, OK, what happens when you’re forced to be at home? Do men do more? Are couples sharing the work more or is it status quo?

So, what did you find?

Professor Petts: So, we found it’s a little bit of both. On the one hand for a subset of women, about a third of women, things have gotten significantly worse. So, for women who were primarily responsible for housework and childcare pre-pandemic and who are still primarily responsible for housework and childcare, their burdens have increased. They’re spending even more time doing this domestic work. They now have home schooling oftentimes on top of all of that. And so, the situation has gotten worse for a significant number of women. So, for a sizeable group of women, about a third of women, things have gotten worse for them. For women who were primarily responsible for housework and childcare before COVID and who remain primarily responsible for housework and child care after or during COVID, their time in those tasks have increased substantially. So, they’re bearing even more burdens especially with kids being at home for school and virtual learning. Women are taking on the majority of those tasks as well. So, for about a third of women, we see a sizable increase in the amount of domestic work that they’re doing. But we also find that it’s not all bad. At least we hope it’s not all bad that for a substantial number of families, men are doing more. And so, we see increases in the percent of families who report sharing housework and childcare equally between mothers and fathers. And so, housework, it went up to about just over 40 percent of couples are sharing housework equally from about a quarter of couples prior to the pandemic. And we find actually that for parents across the board. And so if we increase workplace supports, if we enable and provide opportunities for families and policies for families to be able to manage work life and family life a little better, then I think that, you know, that will ultimately help families across the board. And so, I think that’s a major implication of this finding. But I also want to emphasize that that in and of itself is not enough. We still see that women are doing more of the housework and childcare regardless. Women are more likely to take time off work and lose their jobs during the pandemic. And so, it’s not just more support from workplaces. It’s a reduction in gender discrimination. It’s an increase in equality for pay. And it’s changing cultural perceptions about who’s responsible for housework and childcare, who should be responsible for work outside the home and making sure that we have a more equal perception for for men and women across the board.

In your mind have those perceptions begun to change or do we still have a long way to go?

Professor Petts: I think we’re making very slight incremental changes along the way. I think it’s much more widely accepted that women can work and be employed and be gainfully employed. I think the increases in thinking about men being caregivers are slower to come by. And so, I think there’s a lot of work to be done in that front.

I’m wondering if you and your colleagues have done any research into the benefit of kids and families of having this equal distribution?

Professor Petts: Yeah, that’s a great question. I don’t think we have any information on kids and from kids’ perspectives. Part of it is it’s just really hard to study kids right now because you don’t have access.

How did you gather your data?

Professor Petts: It was an online survey so about 1,200 respondents across the country.

Interview conducted by Ivanhoe Broadcast News.

END OF INTERVIEW

This information is intended for additional research purposes only. It is not to be used as a prescription or advice from Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc. or any medical professional interviewed. Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc. assumes no responsibility for the depth or accuracy of physician statements. Procedures or medicines apply to different people and medical factors; always consult your physician on medical matters.

If you would like more information, please contact: 

 Marc Ransford

765-285-1570

00meransford@bsu.edu

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