The Corona-Crisis, Fathers’ Short-Time Work and the Division of Child Care in CouplesISER External Seminars

Objective. This paper examines how short-time work affected the gendered division of child care during the COVID-19 crisis in Germany.

Background. Short-time work has been one of the main policies to combat the economic and labour market repercussions of the Corona pandemic in Germany. We examine whether and how the growing prevalence of short-time work has affected care patterns.

Method: We use data from IAB-HOPP, which is a longitudinal study monitored by the German Institute for Employment Research (IAB). The analytical sample includes couples with children age 12 and younger. We employ multinomial logistic regressions, where the outcome variable is the change in the division of care work from before to during the Corona-crisis (May to August 2020).

Results: We find that short-time work among men had resulted into more gender-equal care patterns. For women, we do not find any strong or significant effects of short-work, though.

Conclusion: The evidence from the Corona-crisis suggests that changes in men’s work patterns have the potential to shift the gendered division of care in the household.

Presented by:

Michaela Kreyenfeld (Hertie School) Tabea Naujoks (Hertie School & Humboldt University)

Date & time:

May 19, 2021 11:30 am - May 19, 2021 12:30 pm

Venue:

Zoom link for online meeting: https://essex-university.zoom.us/j/6336987293 Please note that this event is open to everyone, but those who are not members of University of Essex need to register by simply sending their names to iserseminars@essex.ac.uk.


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