ABSTRACT

This study analyzes the intrahousehold division of labor within heterosexual couples with children during the COVID-19 lockdown in Spain. The strict confinement established could be regarded as an exogenous shock creating, for some families, theoretically favorable conditions for arrangements that deviate from traditionally gendered dynamics. The disappearance of time constraints from presential work and the impossibility of outsourcing housework and childcare gave highly educated, high-resource women in dual-earner, teleworking couples a unique opportunity to negotiate balanced distributions of work. An online survey carried out during the Spanish lockdown reveals that in most cases egalitarian and nonnormative arrangements were established. Time-availability factors emerge as crucial for this achievement. Nevertheless, a non-negligible proportion of these families exhibit traditional domestic work patterns, which highlights the resilience of normative structures binding women to the household sphere. The study also raises concerns about future socioeconomic polarization derived from differences in paid work constraints.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The COVID-19 lockdown in Spain allowed couples to renegotiate traditional divisions of labor.

• Telework and flexibility were key in helping high-resource women achieve nontraditional patterns.

• The gender gap is smallest for paid work and play activities with children.

• Women nonetheless continued to assume more unpaid work than men.

• Research and policy should address class and gender gaps based on paid work conditions.

摘要

这项研究分析了西班牙COVID-19封锁期间异性恋夫妇与子女的家庭内部分工。对某些家庭而言，建立的严格禁闭可被视为外来冲击，这为偏离传统性别动态的安排在理论上创造了有利条件。临时工作的时间限制的消失以及外包家务劳动和托儿服务的不可能，为受过双重教育的远程工作夫妇中受过良好教育，资源丰富的妇女提供了一个独特的机会，以协商平衡的工作分配。西班牙封锁期间进行的一项在线调查显示，在大多数情况下，建立了平等和非规范性安排。时间可用性因素对于实现这一目标至关重要。尽管如此，这些家庭中有不可忽视的一部分表现出传统的家庭工作模式，这突出说明了将妇女约束于家庭领域的规范结构的复原力。该研究还引发了人们对由于有偿工作约束的差异而导致的未来社会经济两极分化的担忧。

强调

• 西班牙的COVID-19封锁使夫妻可以重新谈判传统的劳动分工。

• 远程办公和灵活性是帮助高资源女性实现非传统模式的关键。

• 对于带孩子的有酬工作和娱乐活动，性别差距最小。

• 尽管如此，妇女继续承担比男性更多的无偿工作。

• 研究和政策应根据有薪工作条件解决阶级和性别差距。