At the start of the corona crisis, fathers did a little more than before with regard to the household and care for the children, but now the division of tasks is back to square one. Three sociologists from Utrecht University concluded this after researching 1084 parents from 890 families.
The inequality between men and women has not decreased or increased since the corona pandemic, but has remained the same, says researcher Mara Yerkes.
The first measurement was in April 2020, shortly after the start of the corona crisis. Then 22 percent of fathers said they do more care tasks than before corona. 17 percent of fathers did more household chores than before the crisis.
different rhythm
“During the first lockdown, parents had to switch quickly and get used to a new situation,” said Yerkes at RTV Utrecht† “Fathers also worked at home more often and therefore got into a different rhythm.” The division of tasks was also affected by the fact that more mothers than fathers have crucial occupations, which meant that men in lockdown were more likely to stay home alone with their children.
In addition, mothers from this group more often adjusted their working days, so that they had less free time than before the corona crisis.
Temporary shift
But the shift turned out to be temporary. Already in June 2020, a few months after the first measurement, the number of fathers who did more in the household decreased than before. In September 2020 it was also over with the extra care tasks.
The inequality between men and women has therefore not disappeared, but parents themselves do not seem to mind. They told the researchers they were “reasonably satisfied” with the distribution. Although the corona crisis is more or less over, the work of Yerkes and her fellow researchers is not yet finished. In a final measurement, the same questions were again put to the fathers and mothers. The results will be published later this year. Yerkes does not expect any major shifts.
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