We examine the role flexible working has for gender equality during the pandemic, focusing on arrangements that give workers control over when and where they work. We use a survey of dual-earning working parents in the United Kingdom during the peak of the first lockdown, namely, between mid-May and mid-June 2020. Results show that in most households in our survey, mothers were mainly responsible for housework and child care tasks both before and during the lockdown period, although this proportion has slightly declined during the pandemic. In households where fathers worked from home during the pandemic, respondents were less likely to say that mothers were the ones solely or mostly responsible for housework and child care. Fathers who worked from home were more likely to say that they were doing more housework and child care during the lockdown period than they were before. Finally, we explore what we expect to happen in the postpandemic times in relation to flexible working and gender equality. The large expansion of flexible working we expect to happen may help reduce some of the gender inequalities that have exacerbated during the pandemic, but only if we reflect on and change our existing work cultures and gender norms.

我们考察了在大流行期间灵活工作对性别平等的作用，重点是使工人能够控制工作时间和地点的安排。在首次锁定的高峰期（即2020年5月中旬至2020年6月中旬），我们对英国双工工作父母进行了调查。结果显示，在我们调查的大多数家庭中，母亲主要负责家务劳动和儿童保育任务，无论是在禁闭之前还是在禁闭期间，尽管这一比例在大流行期间略有下降。在大流行期间父亲在家中打工的家庭中，受访者不太可能说母亲是独自或主要负责家务劳动和育儿的人。在家工作的父亲更有可能说，他们在封锁期间比以前做更多的家务劳动和育儿。最后，我们探讨了在大流行后时代与灵活的工作和性别平等相关的期望。我们期望发生的灵活工作的大规模扩展可能有助于减少在大流行期间加剧的一些性别不平等，但前提是我们要反思并改变我们现有的工作文化和性别规范。