Mums found to be doing more housework and childcare than dads during lockdown

Mums found to be doing more housework and childcare than dads during lockdown

05/27/2020

With schools closed and many people working from home, lockdown days can be very hectic in some households.

But a new study has found that mothers are bearing the brunt of this new at-home lifestyle, finding that they are doing most of the chores and childcare.

Researchers at The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and University College London (UCL) found that in homes that have a working mother and a father, the women are doing more housework and spending more time with the kids.

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The study interviewed 3,500 families to ascertain the results, and it revealed that mums were only able to do one hour of interrupted housework, for every three hours that was managed by dads.

Lucy Kraftman, a research economist at the IFS said: ”Mothers are doing, on average, more childcare and more housework than fathers who have the same work arrangements, be that not working, working from home or working outside the home.”

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She continued: “The vast increase in the amount of childcare that mothers are doing under lockdown, which many are juggling alongside paid work, is likely to put a strain on their well-being.”

Lucy also explained that the results were also applicable to those houses where the mum and dad had been put on the furlough scheme or due to the current economic downturn had found themselves out of work.

There was, however, one section of families where both the mother and the father of the household seemed to be splitting the housework and childcare equally.

This was “those in which both parents were previously working, but the father has now stopped working for pay, while the mother is still in paid work," Lucy shared.

"However, mothers in these households are doing paid work during an average of five hours a day, in addition to doing the same amount of domestic work as their partner."

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But it is not all negative news in regards to housework and childcare gender balances.

This is because the study also found that the dads surveyed have near to doubled the amount of time that the spend looking after their children owing to the lockdown, in comparison with a previous study conducted in 2014-2015.

Sonya Krutikova, a deputy research director at IFS, theorised: “This may bring about changes in the attitudes of fathers, mothers, children and employers about the role of fathers in meeting family needs for childcare and domestic work during the working week.

“It may serve as an impetus for a more equal sharing of childcare and housework between mothers and fathers after lockdown ends.”

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