much of this extra work has fallen squarely on mothers.Our work looks at trends in housework and child care during the early stages of the pandemic in Canada as one way to measure how it might disproportionately harm women.Housework and child care are important markers of equity for a few reasons.
Family responsibilities often default to mothers, negatively impacting their career and economic opportunities. Women’s physical and mental health is linked to how equally partners share family-related tasks.
Romantic relationship quality and stability are also tied to perceptions of equity in housework and child care.We surveyed nearly 1,250 Canadian mothers and fathers about family and work arrangements before and during the pandemic.