In the COVID-19 pandemic, people’s dwellings suddenly became a predominant site of economic activity. We argue that, predictably, policy-makers and employers took the home for granted as a background support of economic life. Acting as if home is a cost-less resource that is free for appropriation in an emergency, ignoring how home functions as a site of gendered relations of care and labour, and assuming home is a largely harmonious site, all shaped the invisibility of the imposition. Taking employee flexibility for granted and presenting work-from-home as a privilege offered by generous employers assumed rapid adaptation. As Australia emerges from lockdown, ‘building back better’ to meet future shocks entails better supporting adaptive capabilities of workers in the care economy, and of homes that have likewise played an unacknowledged role as buffer and shelter for the economy. Investing in infrastructure capable of providing a more equitable basis for future resilience is urgent to reap the benefits that work-from-home offers. This article points to the need for rethinking public investment and infrastructure priorities for economic recovery and reconstruction in the light of a gender perspective on COVID-19 ‘lockdown’ experience.

JEL Codes: E01, E22, J24

在COVID-19大流行中，人们的住所突然成为经济活动的主要场所。我们认为，可以预见的是，决策者和雇主将住房视为经济生活的背景支持。仿佛在家中是一种免费的资源，在紧急情况下可免费使用，而忽略了家庭如何充当具有性别关怀和劳资关系的场所，并假设家庭是一个基本上和谐的场所，所有这一切都使这种做法显得无形。慷慨的雇主将雇员的灵活性视为理所当然，并提出在家工作作为特权，这被认为是快速适应的。随着澳大利亚从封锁中崛起，“更好地重建”以应对未来的冲击需要更好地支持护理经济中的工人的适应能力，以及同样发挥了未被认可的作用作为经济缓冲和住房的房屋。迫切需要对能够为未来的弹性提供更公平基础的基础设施进行投资，以从在家工作中获得收益。本文指出，有必要根据对COVID-19“封锁”经验的性别观点，重新考虑公共投资和基础设施优先事项，以恢复经济和重建经济。

JEL代码： E01，E22，J24