What remains? Gendered patterns of unpaid work two years after the Covid-19 outbreak in five OECD countries

The Covid-19 pandemic and its containment measures significantly affected families and their organization of care and housework. Studies on the gender-specific effects of these changes found mixed results – some showing more equal divisions and increased father involvement, others observing setbacks, no clear change, or parallel increases in unpaid work that maintained existing gender gaps. This study contributes to this debate by examining how couples with children evaluate their division of labor two years after the pandemic outbreak. We ask whether the Covid-19 pandemic has affected gender-specific patterns of care and housework within households beyond the initial lockdown phase. Using original comparative survey data, we provide detailed insights into households’ division of labor. We explore how longer-term impacts differ across the following five national contexts: Switzerland, Germany, Finland, Sweden, and the United States. Our findings indicate that, for most families, the division of unpaid labor remained unchanged, especially in households with traditional arrangements. Where changes occurred, they often affected both partners similarly, without fundamental shifts in the gendered distribution of unpaid work. Country-specific differences emerged, with higher probabilities of no change in Finland, Sweden, and Switzerland than in the United States and Germany.