A Gender Split in Homeschooling

Liu says the findings show a need for stronger support for women from care partners, childcare centers, schools, and community organizations. Sarah Maughan

Women took on more education-related childcare responsibilities than men during the first several months of the COVID-19 pandemic, and this disparity was even sharper for some lower-income women, according to a new UW study.

The study found that daily time spent helping children with education-related activities, such as virtual schooling, homework, and school projects, decreased for men in 2020 compared to previous years. For women, that daily time commitment more than doubled. For low-income women living in areas with widespread childcare facility closures during the pandemic, the increase in time was even steeper.

Women reported spending an average of 32 minutes per day on education-related childcare activities between May and December 2020, compared to an average of 12 minutes per day on education-related childcare activities in 2019. Men reported about five minutes per day prior to the pandemic and just one minute per day in 2020.

While previous studies have shed light on gender disparities in caregiving work during the pandemic, this analysis is the first to examine a possible link between childcare facility closures and such disparities.

Ran Liu, an assistant professor in the UW School of Education’s Department of Educational Policy Studies, says the findings show a need for stronger support for women from care partners, childcare centers, schools, and community organizations during similar public crises in the future.

“This gendered division could seriously limit women’s opportunities for employment and exacerbate household and labor market inequality,” Liu says.

Published in the Fall 2024 issue