Economic and social disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic have important implications for gender and class inequality. Drawing on Statistics Canada’s monthly Labour Force Survey, we document trends in gender gaps in employment and work hours over the pandemic (February–October 2020). Our findings highlight the importance of care provisions for gender equity, with gaps larger among parents than people without children, and most pronounced when care and employment were more difficult to reconcile. When employment barriers eased, so did the gender–employment gap. The pandemic could not undo longer-standing cultural and structural shifts motivating contemporary mothers’ employment. The pandemic also exacerbated educational inequalities among women, highlighting the importance of assessing gendered impacts through an intersectional lens.

COVID-19大流行的经济和社会破坏对性别和阶级不平等具有重要影响。根据加拿大统计局每月的劳动力调查，我们记录了大流行期间（2020年2月至2020年10月）就业和工作时间的性别差距趋势。我们的研究结果突出了提供性别平等的照料的重要性，父母之间的差距比没有孩子的人更大，当照料和就业更难以调和时，这一点尤为明显。缓解就业障碍后，性别与就业之间的差距也将减少。这种大流行无法消除促使当代母亲就业的长期文化和结构转变。大流行还加剧了妇女之间的教育不平等，突出了通过交叉镜头评估性别影响的重要性。