חלוקת עבודות הבית בין גברים ונשים בימי קורונה

Our research examines the impact of COVID-19 related policy during the first lockdown in Israel on the distribution of household work between men and women. Our findings are based on a web-based survey completed by 631 individuals living in a two-parent household, with mid-high income level, and children under the age of 18. We found that work-life balance was the most pressing challenge respondents identified during the first lockdown. The findings disproved our research hypothesis that the COVID crisis will disrupt the gendered division of household labor. We found that while women generally did more household work before and during the first COVID related lockdown, the rate of increase in household work was similar to both men and women, with men reporting a slightly higher increase. However, the most significant increase in women’s household work was an increase in cleaning work. Furthermore, we found a correlation between higher household income and an increase in household work during the lockdown, as well as between the rate of increase in household work and the individual’s labor market position. We further found a correlation between an individual’s increased household work and their partner’s market position. We analyze our findings based on sociological and legal scholarship regarding the gendered distribution of household labor and suggest a gender-sensitive as well as class-sensitive policy discussion of gender-based household and market inequality.