Locking Down Gender Roles? A Time-Use Perspective on Gender Division of Household Labour during the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown in Belgium. (March 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: van Tienoven, Theun Pieter; Minnen, Joeri; Glorieux, Anaïs; Laurijssen, Ilse; te Braak, Petrus; Glorieux, Ignace
• Is Part Of: Journal of family issues. Volume 44:Number 3(2023)
• Page Start: 654
• Page End: 680
• Publication Date: 2023-03
• Subjects: gender equality -- household labour -- COVID-19 pandemic -- time-use data -- routine domestic work; Families -- United States -- Periodicals; Family -- Periodicals; 306.8505
• DOI: 10.1177/0192513X211054463
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0192-513X

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.