IPR Seminar Series—The Gendered Consequences of COVID-19: Initial Insights for U.S. Families
At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020, scholars, journalists, and the public expressed concern that unprecedented school and daycare closures would undo decades of women’s progress at work and at home. Others envisioned a silver lining—with domestic labor more visible than ever to men, they might equalize their share of childcare and housework, in effect, “un-stalling” the gender revolution. We present findings from several studies that evaluate these claims. We ask: what happened to parents’ employment during the pandemic? Did this differ for married parents and couples without kids? What is driving changes in employment? What does this mean for parents’ mental health? What policy solutions might help? This research offers timely, nuanced insights into key mechanisms driving disparities of gender and class for parents in the COVID-19 pandemic.