André has been researching the balance between work and care for years. She was also a co-founder of the Radboud WORKLIFE consortium in early 2020. “This is an inter-faculty partnership that brings together all available knowledge on balancing work and private life into one place.” Shortly after its foundation, the coronavirus broke out and that balance was disturbed At the same time, new research questions arose: what is the pandemic doing in terms of work pressure and gender roles between men and women? André sought collaboration with Nijmegen researchers and with colleagues from Utrecht University and the University of Amsterdam. This resulted in the interdisciplinary COVID Gender (In)equality Survey Netherlands (COGIS-NL).
Emancipation
Since April 2020, the researchers have taken four different measurements on parents with children under the age of eighteen living at home. The first measurement showed that fathers had taken on significantly more care tasks than before corona. André: “That seemed like a great opportunity for emancipation. But in July the input from fathers decreased slightly, in September even more and at our last measurement – in November – we were back to square one: the division of work and care tasks between parents was again the same as in the pre-coronavirus period.”
The percentage of parents who feel more work pressure during the pandemic is consistently high. This is worrisome, André believes. “This equates to a greater chance of all kinds of mental and physical problems. Moreover, the amount of free time has decreased significantly. This may be because parents have to teach at home and because many children's activities outside the home have stopped. Parents must therefore take care of and entertain their children more often.”
Satisfied
Since June, the researchers have also been measuring satisfaction levels among people without underage children living at home. André: “Those people’s situation was slightly better in November than in April, but no better than in the period before the coronavirus crisis. In this way, you can see that this pandemic is causing problems for everyone.”
Yet it is not all doom and gloom. “In April, men and women were still experiencing conflict about working from home and the division of care tasks. That improved later. Perhaps people have adapted, for instance, by creating extra workspaces in the house. In general, people appear to be satisfied with their relationship and the division of household and care tasks. Compared to the period before corona, satisfaction has hardly decreased.”
Corona leave
The research results have received a lot of attention in the media. “We also share the results with all kinds of organisations, ministries and interest groups”, says André. She offers several recommendations, for example to employers: “Make it clear to your employees that free time is not wasted time. And tell them that you understand that the coronavirus has a major impact on them. This not only concerns parents with children, but also singles who can be lonely, and employees with informal care tasks. Show compassion and express it.”
André also offers advice to the government. “In April 2020, many parents took vacation days to teach their children at home. As a result, they hardly had any days off during the rest of the year and had little time to recover. If primary schools have to close again, give parents paid corona leave, so they have the time and space – also financially – to really be there for their children. Finland did this during the first lockdown and it worked well.”
This article was first published on the website of the Nijmegen School of Management. Photo: Pixabay.