TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hipp, Lena
A1  - Bünning, Mareike
T1  - Parenthood as a driver of increased genderinequality during COVID-19?
BT  - exploratory evidence from Germany
JF  - European societies
N2  - Drawing on three waves of survey data from a non-probability sample from Germany, this paper examines two opposing expectations about the pandemic's impacts on gender equality: The optimistic view suggests that gender equality has increased, as essential workers in Germany have been predominantly female and as fathers have had more time for childcare. The pessimistic view posits that lockdowns have also negatively affected women's jobs and that mothers had to shoulder the additional care responsibilities. Overall, our exploratory analyses provide more evidence supporting the latter view. Parents were more likely than non-parents to work fewer hours during the pandemic than before, and mothers were more likely than fathers to work fewer hours once lockdowns were lifted. Moreover, even though parents tended to divide childcare more evenly, at least temporarily, mothers still shouldered more childcare work than fathers. The division of housework remained largely unchanged. It is therefore unsurprising that women, in particular mothers, reported lower satisfaction during the observation period. Essential workers experienced fewer changes in their working lives than respondents in other occupations.
KW  - COVID-19
KW  - gender
KW  - family
KW  - employment
KW  - division of labour
KW  - satisfaction
Y1  - 2020
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1080/14616696.2020.1833229
SN  - 1461-6696
SN  - 1469-8307
VL  - 23
SP  - S658
EP  - S673
PB  - Taylor & Francis Group
CY  - London
ER  -