What remains? Restructurings within families' organization of work and care due to Covid-19 measures

Since the beginning of 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has been the dominating issue in domestic and international politics. Although the extent to which the pandemic affected people’s lives varies greatly from country to country, as do the measures taken to mitigate it, consequences are noticeable for everyone. From public life to private households, there has been everything from slight changes to drastic restructuring. While most of the measures are temporary, researchers from a wide range of disciplines are asking about their potential long-term effects. Taking up on this, our study’s interest lies in the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the way that families organize their everyday life. More precisely, we argue that especially school closures and the temporary lack of institutional care facilities for children in some countries may have significant and potentially persistent effects on the within-household division of labor. We will therefore address the following research questions: Have the Covid-19 pandemic measures and different forms of lockdown had a significant impact on the actual intra-family division of labor? If so, in which way and for whom? To answer this, we use novel data from an international survey in five countries that asks parents with children under the age of 15 about ongoing changes in the organization and division of labor of paid work, care and housework between the partners. To capture potential varying consequences of different measures, we include countries that have pursued very diverse strategies in the context of this pandemic, namely Sweden, Switzerland, USA, Finland and Germany. In this vein, our study may not only contribute to a better understanding of new patterns regarding the within-household division of labor emerging during a period of an external shock, but also shed light on questions of whether and how the pandemic may affect families and their position in the society in the long term.