Gender roles in the pandemic: The re-traditionalisation of attitudes towards women in the public sphere and their effect on women’s political involvement

The pervasive gendered effects of the Covid-19 crisis in various areas of life are well documented. Women have experienced a stronger economic impact than men, their mental health and life satisfaction were more severely affected, while they have also disproportionally shouldered the increase in care work associated with the closures of schools and childcare facilities. These developments have reversed some of the advancements towards gender equality made in the last decades. Still, we know little about the impact of the pandemic on gender role attitudes of men and women, and the potential political implications. In this study, we investigate how the pandemic affected attitudes towards gender roles and, specifically, towards women’s place in the public sphere. Combining longitudinal data from the Austrian Corona Panel with data that we collected through a representative (online) survey fielded during the first wave of the pandemic (Summer 2020), we examine the effects of the Covid-19 crisis on gender role attitudes, and their consequences for political preferences and for women’s political involvement in Austria. Specifically, we focus on the role of the economic threat posed by crisis, exploring both gender differences and changes over the course of the pandemic. Our analyses show that feeling strongly economically affected by the pandemic effects more conservative views amongst men and, to a lesser degree, women. We argue that the traditional division of labour is perceived as a way of alleviating labour market pressures for men. These effects are amplified for men (but not women), who report the loss of influence or control within their households due to the pandemic, suggesting that traditional gender roles might also be seen as a way to regain influence within the family. In a second step, we explore if gender role attitudes are linked to political preferences about the management of the crisis—specifically towards a gender-sensitive approach to crisis management—and to women’s political involvement, to test if changes in gender role attitudes have consequences for the political representation of women and their interests during the pandemic. Understanding these shifts in the context of the pandemic is important, as gender role attitudes shape social norms and political priorities, but also because they influence women’s involvement in the public sphere and, thus, their political engagement. A persisting re-traditionalisation of gender role attitudes might reinforce the underrepresentation of women and their interests in the political process, and decrease the chances of a gender-sensitive approach to recovery from the crisis.