Trajectories of US parents’ divisions of domestic labor throughout the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUNDResearch on parents' divisions of domestic labor during the COVID-19 pandemic has focused on average changes in housework and child care during the pandemic's first year, limiting our understanding of variation in parents' experiences as well as the long-term consequences of the pandemic for gender inequality. OBJECTIVEThis study identifies distinct patterns of change in US parents' divisions of housework and child care from spring 2020 to fall 2023 and factors associated with changes in parents' divisions of domestic labor.https://www.demographic-research.org CONTRIBUTIONSOverall, results suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic affected the long-term division of domestic labor in only a minority of families.Where change has occurred, however, it has been long-lasting, and in the case of child care, the change has tended to reduce gender inequalities rather than exacerbate them.