Gender Differences in Telecommuting and Implications for Inequality at Home and Work

Abstract

<p>The global pandemic has led to an unprecedented shift to remote work that will likely persist to some degree into the future. Telecommuting’s impact on flexibility and work family conflict is a critical question for researchers and policy-makers. Our study addresses this question with data collected before and during the COVID-19 crisis: the 2003-2018 American Time Use Survey (ATUS, N = 19,179) and the April and May 2020 COVID Impact Survey (N = 784). Comparing mothers and fathers who work exclusively at the workplace, exclusively from home, and part-day from home, we describe differences in time spent on housework, childcare, and leisure; the nature of time worked at home; and the subjective experiences of telecommuting. In addition to a broad descriptive portrait, we take advantage of a quasi-experimental design in the ATUS leave supplements to examine time working at home among those who report ever telecommuting, providing estimates of telecommuting’s effect on other uses of time that better approximate causal relationships than prior studies. We find that gender gaps in housework are larger for telecommuters, and, among telecommuters, larger on telecommuting days. Conversely, telecommuting may shrink the gender gap in childcare, particularly among couples with two full time earners, although childcare more frequently impinges upon mothers’ work time. Survey data collected following the March COVID19 stay-at-home orders show that telecommuting mothers more frequently report feelings of anxiety, loneliness and depression than telecommuting fathers. Early estimates of responses to the COVID19 pandemic offer insights into future implications of telecommuting for gender equality at work.</p>

“Let’s Not Pretend It’s Fun”: How COVID-19-Related School and Childcare Closures are Damaging Mothers’ Well-Being

“…In the wake of the pandemic, some mothers in our study were pushed into telecommuting without childcare. Consistent with national trends (Dey et al 2020;Lyttelton et al 2020), these were primarily highly educated mothers in professional or managerial roles. Thus, these mothers also faced pressures to demonstrate high levels of commitment to their jobs (Clarkberg and Moen 2016;Glass and Estes 1997) and also typically held themselves to intensive parenting standards (Collins 2019;Damaske 2011;Gerson 1985;Hays 1998;Lareau 2011).…”

“…Many mothers are reducing their paid work hours (Collins et al 2020;Landivar et al 2020). Meanwhile, telecommuting mothers are also reporting increased anxiety, loneliness, and depression (Lyttelton et al 2020). Such findings raise important questions about how mothers are experiencing pandemicrelated increases in time with their children.…”

“…Disruptions in paid work also led many parents to spend more time at home. Following stay-athome orders, some workers were allowed to work remotely (especially highly educated professionals), while others were left furloughed or unemployed (especially in the retail and service sectors) (Dey et al 2020;Lyttelton, Zang, and Musick 2020).…”

“…Remote work is generally thought to facilitate that balance (Munsch 2016). Nevertheless, pandemic research shows that telecommuting mothers experienced heightened anxiety, loneliness, and depression (Lyttelton et al 2020). This may be because pandemic-related shifts to remote work were most common in professional and managerial jobs (Dey et al 2020;Lyttelton et al 2020).…”

“…Nevertheless, pandemic research shows that telecommuting mothers experienced heightened anxiety, loneliness, and depression (Lyttelton et al 2020). This may be because pandemic-related shifts to remote work were most common in professional and managerial jobs (Dey et al 2020;Lyttelton et al 2020). These jobs require high levels of commitment (Clarkberg and Moen 2016;Glass and Estes 1997).…”