Who Cares More? COVID-19 and the Shift In America’s Care Work Gender Gap

Background/Purpose: Unpaid care work (UCW) is central to understanding labor underutilization, employment patterns, and gender inequality. Evidence suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic intensified gender disparities in unpaid care, as many women in high-income countries, including the United States, reduced labor force participation to meet rising household and caregiving demands for children, older adults, and sick family members. According to the Time Availability Framework, the division of UCW may shift in response to changes in available time rather than simply reflecting entrenched gender norms, highlighting how external shocks can reshape care arrangements. Guided by this framework and prior literature, this study focuses on two research questions: (1) Did COVID-19 change time spent on UCW and gender disparities? and (2) Were there different patterns on weekdays and weekends?

Methods: We analyze data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) collected between 2017 and 2024. ATUS respondents are drawn from households that previously participated in the Current Population Survey. The analytic sample includes 69,669 time diaries from respondents aged 18–65 collected between January 2017 and December 2024. All analyses incorporate ATUS sampling weights to generate nationally representative estimates. To examine changes in UCW over time, we employ an interrupted time series (ITS) design, including time (in months) since January 2017, post-COVID months since May 2020, post-COVID indicator, and gender, controlling for other socio-demographic and household characteristics. The interactions of gender with the time- and COVID-related variables were added to assess gender disparities in UCW over time. To capture variation in UCW across the week, models were also estimated separately for weekdays and weekends. This analytic strategy allowed for a comprehensive assessment of temporal trends, gender disparities, and shifts in UCW before and after the pandemic.

Results: Women consistently spent significantly more time on UCW than men (5.65 vs. 3.71 hours), with gender gaps of 1.35 hours daily after controlling for employment, number of children, and other socio-demographic and household characteristics. UCW levels were stable from January 2017 to April 2020, with no significant changes in trends. The onset of the pandemic produced an immediate significant increase in UCW (β = 0.161), primarily among women, but post-COVID trends remained small and insignificant. Gender gaps were substantial on both weekdays (98 minutes) and weekends (63 minutes). Gender interactions revealed day-specific pandemic effects, women’s UCW rose sharply on weekdays but less so on weekends, while men showed minimal change. Overall, COVID-19 induced a short-term shift without altering long-standing gender disparities.

Conclusions and Implications: While COVID-19 disrupted routines and increased care demands, long-standing gender disparities in UCW persisted, highlighting the limits of incremental or household-level solutions. Structural interventions such as universal childcare, paid family leave, flexible work policies, and father-targeted parental leave are critical for reshaping entrenched patterns and supporting long-term work–family balance. A unified care framework that integrates economic, labor, and health policies is essential to reduce the structural burden of UCW and foster a more resilient and equitable society.