Gender differences in domestic work during COVID19 in Uruguay

Abstract

The pandemic generated by Covid-19 caused a shock that would change households’ distribution of domestic work. Based on a survey conducted in 2020 in Uruguay, this paper analyzes changes in the hours devoted to childcare and housework of a sample of highly educated population living with a partner. We find that women and men increased their hours of domestic work, and this is related to decreasing time in the labor market, but there is no relationship with spouses’ time in paid work. The rise (decline) of female (male) time in the labor market leads to equal sharing of couples’ domestic work. Finally, the respondents declared that the increase in their domestic work was more intensive than their partners, with women in particular stating they did more housework than men. The sharing domestic work gap tended to decline, but the final result is sensitive to the gender of the respondent.