The COVID-19 pandemic has affected gender inequalities in time spent on paid and unpaid work globally. Few studies outside of the Western context (i.e., countries in Australasia, Europe, or the Americas) have used longitudinal data to compare time use before and during the pandemic, focused on potential mechanisms through which the pandemic affects gender inequalities in time use, or examined the heterogeneous effects of socioeconomic status. We examine the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on gender inequalities in time spent on paid work, housework, and childcare in Singapore. Using a panel dataset of 290 married women interviewed before, during, and after the lockdown, and applying between-within models, we find that gender gaps in housework hours increased during and persisted after the lockdown, even as the gender gap in paid work hours narrowed. The gap in childcare hours expanded among households with fewer resources but decreased among households with more resources. Mothers responded to loss of income and employment by increasing their childcare and housework time more than fathers, suggesting that “doing gender,” rather than time availability or material resources, provide the key mechanism explaining gendered changes in time use. Our results highlight that when a pandemic strikes, women, especially those in less-resourced households, were put in a particularly vulnerable position compared to men.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19 封锁对新加坡有偿和无偿工作时间性别不平等的影响

COVID-19 大流行影响了全球花在有酬和无酬工作上的时间的性别不平等。在西方背景之外（即澳大拉西亚、欧洲或美洲的国家），很少有研究使用纵向数据来比较大流行之前和期间的时间使用情况，重点关注大流行影响时间使用方面的性别不平等的潜在机制，或者检查了社会经济地位的异质性影响。我们研究了 COVID-19 封锁对新加坡花在有偿工作、家务劳动和育儿时间上的性别不平等的影响。使用包含在封锁之前、期间和之后接受采访的 290 名已婚妇女的面板数据集，并应用组间模型，我们发现家务劳动时间的性别差距在封锁期间增加并在封锁之后持续存在，即使在带薪工作时间方面的性别差距缩小了。托儿时间的差距在资源较少的家庭中扩大，但在资源较多的家庭中缩小。母亲通过比父亲更多地增加育儿和家务时间来应对收入和就业损失，这表明“做性别”而不是时间可用性或物质资源提供了解释时间使用性别变化的关键机制。我们的结果强调，当大流行病袭来时，与男性相比，女性，尤其是那些生活在资源匮乏家庭中的女性，处于特别脆弱的境地。母亲通过比父亲更多地增加育儿和家务时间来应对收入和就业损失，这表明“做性别”而不是时间可用性或物质资源提供了解释时间使用性别变化的关键机制。我们的结果强调，当大流行病袭来时，与男性相比，女性，尤其是那些生活在资源匮乏家庭中的女性，处于特别脆弱的境地。母亲通过比父亲更多地增加育儿和家务时间来应对收入和就业损失，这表明“做性别”而不是时间可用性或物质资源提供了解释时间使用性别变化的关键机制。我们的结果强调，当大流行病袭来时，与男性相比，女性，尤其是那些生活在资源匮乏家庭中的女性，处于特别脆弱的境地。