Zamarro Gema, Prados María J
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701 USA.
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089 USA.
Rev Econ Househ. 2021;19(1):11-40. doi: 10.1007/s11150-020-09534-7. Epub 2021 Jan 16.
The current COVID-19 crisis, with its associated school and daycare closures as well as social-distancing requirements, has the potential to magnify gender differences both in terms of childcare arrangements within the household and at work. We use data from a nationally representative sample of the United States from the Understanding Coronavirus in America tracking survey to understand gender differences within households on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. We study how fathers and mothers are coping with this crisis in terms of childcare provision, employment, working arrangements, and psychological distress levels. We find that women have carried a heavier load than men in the provision of childcare during the COVID-19 crisis, even while still working. Mothers' current working situations appear to have a limited influence on their provision of childcare. This division of childcare is, however, associated with a reduction in working hours and an increased probability of transitioning out of employment for working mothers. Finally, we observe a small but new gap in psychological distress that emerged between mothers and women without school-age children in the household in early April. This new gap appears to be driven by higher levels of psychological distress reported by mothers of elementary school-age and younger children.
当前的新冠疫情危机，伴随着学校和日托中心关闭以及社交距离要求，有可能在家庭内部的育儿安排和工作方面放大性别差异。我们使用来自美国具有全国代表性样本的“美国新冠病毒认知追踪调查”的数据，来了解家庭内部在新冠疫情危机影响方面的性别差异。我们研究父亲和母亲在育儿、就业、工作安排以及心理困扰程度方面是如何应对这场危机的。我们发现，在新冠疫情危机期间，即使仍在工作，女性在提供育儿服务方面的负担也比男性更重。母亲当前的工作状况似乎对她们提供育儿服务的影响有限。然而，这种育儿分工与工作时间减少以及职业母亲离职概率增加有关。最后，我们观察到4月初，有学龄儿童的母亲与家中没有学龄儿童的女性之间出现了一个虽小但新的心理困扰差距。这个新差距似乎是由小学及以下年龄段儿童的母亲报告的更高心理困扰水平所驱动的。
