{"id":2536,"date":"2021-06-22T09:27:21","date_gmt":"2021-06-22T14:27:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/ccf\/?p=2536"},"modified":"2021-06-22T09:28:16","modified_gmt":"2021-06-22T14:28:16","slug":"to-keep-women-in-the-workforce-men-need-to-do-more-at-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/ccf\/2021\/06\/22\/to-keep-women-in-the-workforce-men-need-to-do-more-at-home\/","title":{"rendered":"To Keep Women in the Workforce, Men Need to Do More at Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Reposted with permission from the Harvard Business Review<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

The arrival of Covid-19 vaccines marks the beginning of the end of the pandemic, but it will likely be\u00a0months<\/a>\u00a0before the risk of contracting the coronavirus subsides and society returns to some semblance of normality. The end is in sight, but in many ways, Americans find themselves right back where they started.<\/p>\n

The pandemic has been hard on everyone, but especially on caregivers. The loss of childcare options and in-person schooling combined with a lack of adequate policies providing paid leave and job flexibility resulted in a crisis of care and unprecedented work-family conflict. The loss of these care supports has been particularly\u00a0consequential for mothers\u2019 careers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0March 2020<\/a>,<\/u>\u00a0unemployment rates for men and women age 16 and over were indistinguishable \u2014 4.4% for men and 4.4% for women. By April, once shutdowns went into effect and schools and childcare centers were closed, the unemployment rate for women rose to 16.1%, while for men it increased to 13.6%. Among different-sex couples who remained employed in remote-eligible jobs, research shows that\u00a0paid work hours<\/a>\u00a0declined particularly sharply for mothers of children under age 12. Although the gender gap in employment subsided over the summer of 2020, a large unemployment spike among women age 20 and over occurred\u00a0in September<\/a>, especially for those in their 30s and 40s \u2014 which was likely attributed to the start of the school year.<\/p>\n

As Fathers Take on More Childcare, Mothers Take on More Paid Labor<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Many scholars and commentators have called upon fathers to\u00a0increase their domestic contributions<\/a>\u00a0to mitigate the negative effects of the pandemic on mothers\u2019 employment. Our\u00a0new study<\/a>, published in\u00a0Gender, Work & Organization<\/em>, confirms that in families where fathers do a greater share of childcare, mothers were far less likely to suffer negative employment outcomes in the early days of the pandemic. For the remainder of the pandemic and beyond, fathers who increase the time they spend engaging in childcare can likely alleviate mothers\u2019 burdens and protect their careers.<\/p>\n

How parents of young children divided care at home prior to the pandemic was a strong predictor of labor market outcomes in April. Using data collected on 989 parents in different-sex relationships in late April 2020, we found that among mothers doing nearly all (80\u2013100%) of the care of young children prior to the pandemic, one in two (50%) voluntarily left their job or reduced hours in paid work. Increases in fathers\u2019 shares of childcare drastically reduced the likelihood that mothers would experience negative employment outcomes. When childcare was shared equally prior to the pandemic (i.e., fathers did 40\u201360% of childcare), the probability that mothers voluntarily left jobs or reduced work hours decreased to 15% \u2014 a similar probability as fathers (11%).\u00a0The average drop in work hours for working mothers of young children during the early pandemic was just over three hours per week. For every 20% increase in fathers\u2019 shares of childcare, mothers\u2019 time in paid labor increased by three hours per week.<\/p>\n

As\u00a0previously reported<\/a>, U.S. fathers\u2019 shares of childcare increased during the early days of the pandemic, and a significant number of couples moved away from conventional arrangements where mothers were responsible for the majority of childcare. Given that women in partnerships with egalitarian childcare arrangements are less likely to reduce their labor force participation, fathers\u2019 efforts to increase their domestic contributions may have somewhat protected mothers\u2019 jobs during the early pandemic \u2014 a sobering thought given how many mothers left or lost their jobs. Still, increases in fathers\u2019 domestic contributions were incredibly modest \u2014 the prevalence of egalitarian arrangements increased by\u00a0less than 10 percentage points<\/a>\u00a0according to mothers\u2019 reports \u2014 indicating that many more men can step up and alleviate some of the burdens on their partners.<\/p>\n

Balancing the Division of Labor Is Just One Part of the Solution<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Asking mothers and fathers to solve the problem of the pandemic on their own by reordering their divisions of labor will not solve the problem of work schedules that are incompatible with children\u2019s school schedules and care needs. A\u00a0poll<\/a>\u00a0sponsored by the American Psychological Association found that parents reported significantly higher levels of stress during the early days of the pandemic than non-parents. Much of this stress\u00a0appears to have stemmed<\/a>\u00a0from the loss of care supports and inadequate policy responses to parents\u2019 work-family conflict. Our research shows that more than half of parents were using nonparental care (daycare centers, home-based care, grandparents, etc.) prior to the pandemic, but only 3% had their children in the care of others by the end of April.<\/p>\n

Our findings\u00a0confirm that the loss of care supports \u2014 in-person schooling most especially \u2014 was associated with negative employment outcomes for mothers during the early days of the pandemic. We found that among families using full-time daycare prior to the pandemic or who bore responsibility for creating or sourcing homeschool learning content early in the pandemic, mothers were at significant risk of dropping out of the labor force or reducing work hours. A large proportion of parents (at least half) reported assisting their children with homeschooling in the spring of 2020, and\u00a0parents agree<\/a>\u00a0it was mothers who were doing the vast\u00a0majority of this new domestic task.<\/p>\n

The Solution Must Be Structural<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This crisis of care requires structural solutions that go beyond the household. Opening schools and daycares safely is ideal but still not feasible in many places. Structural solutions to facilitate fathers\u2019 domestic labor appears to be the path forward, but these solutions must be supported by business and government.<\/p>\n

Increases in father engagement appear to be driven by the\u00a0ability to be home<\/a>\u00a0during the pandemic. Extending work-family policies that facilitate men\u2019s time at home \u2014 including telecommuting, schedule flexibility, and paid leave \u2014 is key to fathers alleviating some of the burdens on their partners. Though many jobs have become remote positions during the pandemic, it is important to note that telecommuting alone will not facilitate greater involvement among fathers.<\/p>\n

The number of fathers working remotely during the pandemic has increased dramatically; our estimates show that the number of partnered fathers working exclusively from home increased from 9% to 41% from March to April 2020. Nevertheless, the increase in fathers\u2019 domestic contributions have lagged because remote work is not necessarily flexible work. Indeed, pre-pandemic data shows that when working from home is mandated by employers, fathers actually\u00a0do less housework<\/a>\u00a0than those who do not work from home or those who work from home for personal reasons. To facilitate fathers\u2019 domestic engagement moving forward, businesses must offer employees as much schedule flexibility as possible.<\/p>\n

Paid time off is also important. For too long, American workers have been overworked. Compared with parents in other countries,\u00a0U.S. parents work many more hours with far less support<\/a>. Among 38 OECD countries, U.S. workers rank 10th highest in annual\u00a0paid work hours<\/a>\u00a0but last in\u00a0paid time<\/a>\u00a0off. Though the CARES Act provided paid leave for primary caregivers, the new round of stimulus passed by Congress in December did not. Not only must new legislation provide leave, but provisions must explicitly include fathers. Using the general language of \u201cprimary caregiver\u201d by default implies that only one parent will be responsible for caregiving and increases the likelihood that mothers will be the ones pushed to take the leave.<\/p>\n

Ensuring that the remainder of the pandemic does not further erode the well-being of mothers and other primary caregivers means getting men to do more. Moms have borne the brunt of this pandemic. Dads, it\u2019s your turn to step up.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
Daniel L. Carlson<\/a>\u00a0is Associate Professor of Family and Consumer Studies at the University of Utah. He studies the causes and consequences of couples\u2019 divisions of labor. He is Deputy Editor of the\u00a0Journal of Marriage and Family\u00a0and member of the board of directors for the Council of Contemporary Families. Richard J. Petts<\/a> is a Professor of Sociology at Ball State University. His research focuses on family inequalities, with a specific emphasis on parental leave, father involvement, and workplace flexibility as policies and practices that can reduce gender inequality, promote greater work-family balance, and improve family well-being (www.richardpetts.com<\/a>). <\/em>Joanna Pepin<\/a>\u00a0is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University at Buffalo. She studies inequality as it is woven through couple and family relations. Her research focuses on the social paradox in which gains in women\u2019s financial resources are often ineffective at reducing gender inequality within families.<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reposted with permission from the Harvard Business Review. The arrival of Covid-19 vaccines marks the beginning of the end of the pandemic, but it will likely be\u00a0months\u00a0before the risk of contracting the coronavirus subsides and society returns to some semblance of normality. The end is in sight, but in many ways, Americans find themselves right […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2095,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/ccf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/ccf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/ccf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/ccf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2095"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/ccf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2536"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/ccf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2539,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/ccf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2536\/revisions\/2539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/ccf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/ccf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/ccf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}