Article

Paid and unpaid work: the pandemic intensifies the phenomenon of double shift among women

Lídia Farré, Universitat de Barcelona, MOVE and IAE-CSIC; Libertad González, Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Barcelona GSE
Project selected in the Call to support survey-based research projects on the impact of covid-19

The study on which this article is based analyses how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the distribution of paid and unpaid work between men and women. In order to do this, a survey was conducted among men and women with children under 13 years of age at two points in time: the period immediately prior to the declaration of the state of alarm, on 14 March 2020, and the period following lockdown and the first wave (November and December 2020). The aim of the study is to calculate the effects on gender inequality associated with the outbreak of the pandemic.
Key points
  • 1
       Taking into account both paid and unpaid work, the weekly working hours of women before the pandemic were 10 hours more than that of men (73 hours for women compared to 63 hours for men). Unpaid work accounted for 41% of men’s working hours and 66% of women’s working hours.
  • 2
       Following the first wave of the pandemic and lockdown, the gender gap in total hours worked increased to 16 hours (62 hours for the male population compared to 78 hours for the female population), because of the greater involvement of women in unpaid work (48 hours before lockdown compared to 54 hours after lockdown).
  • 3
       The greater job flexibility of women, alongside the presence of traditional social models, could explain this increase in the gender gap in the dedication to unpaid work.
  • 4
       The unequal sharing of family responsibilities may have significant costs for the job opportunities of women.
brechaGeneroEN_2.png

Classification

Tags

Subject areas

Related documents

Related content

Article

Gender inequality in paid and unpaid work after the pandemic

Following the pandemic, 30% of men and 33% of women with children who are minors have been working from home at least one day a week. According to this study, this could favour greater equality in relation to family responsibilities.

Article

How do gender, experience and caseload affect judicial decisions on intimate-partner violence cases?

Are male and female judges equally likely to grant restraining orders in cases of gender-based violence? According to this study, gender alone is not a determining factor but it is a key factor, together with experience and caseload.

Article

Do men live in wealthier households than women?

Does a gender gap exist in relation to household wealth? According to this study, the difference is more pronounced at advanced ages since, in old age, women have greater probabilities of being widowed and seeing their wealth limited.

Article

The STEM field is failing to attract female talent

In Spain, only 16% of STEM professionals are women. We analyse this gender gap.

Infodata

PhD qualifications by different branches of knowledge and by sex

While the participation of female PhD holders in Portugal is situated above the EU‑27 average in all fields of knowledge considered, in Spain the participation of female PhD holders is situated below the European average in the fields of art, humanities and social sciences.

You may also find interesting

Social welfare systems and inequality in Europe

Report

Social welfare systems and inequality in Europe


Social Inclusion

Spain’s social protection system is less redistributive than those of other EU countries. What reforms could help reduce economic inequality in Spain?

Detection of workplace bullying and its negative impact on psychological well-being

Article

Detection of workplace bullying and its negative impact on psychological well-being


Social Inclusion

11.2% of the population present a high probability of suffering a situation of harassment in their workplace and may develop generalised anxiety disorder. How can possible cases of psychological harassment be detected?

Technocratic attitudes in Spain during the pandemic

Article

Technocratic attitudes in Spain during the pandemic


Social Inclusion

In times of crisis, do citizens prefer to adopt a more technical type of government? According to this study, technocratic attitudes among Spanish people increased during the pandemic, especially among right-wing voters.