During the COVID-19 pandemic, working moms didn’t just pick up more household responsibilities — they often put their career aspirations on hold — while dads described the new division of labor as “fair” and in some cases expanded their career goals.

A series of three interrelated studies conducted by CSUSB and UC Irvine sociologists examine the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic affected unpaid household labor and career aspirations among dual-career couples raising young children.

What makes these studies stand out is their rare design: researchers interviewed both members of each couple separately, allowing for direct comparisons between spouses’ perceptions of fairness, labor and ambition. By capturing new pandemic-specific forms of household work and tracking how couples adapted, the studies offer fresh insight into how crises reshape gender dynamics – even among progressive, dual-career households.

The first two studies are co-authored by Jurgita Abromaviciute, associate professor of sociology at CSUSB and Emily Carian, formerly of CSUSB and now assistant professor of teaching in the Department of Sociology at UC Irvine. CSUSB Assistant Professor of Sociology Ethel Mickey collaborated with Abromaviciute and Carian on the third study.

The researchers interviewed 62 people – 31 dual-career, heterosexual married couples raising young children (ages 12 and under) in Southern California. At least one spouse in each couple was working full-time from home.

In the first study, “The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Gender Gap in Newly Created Domains of Household Labor,” published in the journal, Sociological Perspectives, the authors state that couples, “Often with little help from their employers and the government… were left to navigate a crisis in which two greedy institutions — work and family — had collided in unprecedented ways, creating more and more complicated household labor.”

The study revealed that in addition to increasing unpaid labor at home, the pandemic created new types of labor, such as sanitizing groceries and supervising the children’s school sessions on Zoom – roles that, for the most part, women took on.

Mothers were four times more likely to report doing all or most of the new pandemic-related childcare and more than four times as likely to report doing most of the new pandemic-related housework compared to their husbands, according to the data. Couples created what the researchers called “family myths,” or “mutually-agreed upon narratives” to justify the inequalities.

The second study, “It’s Certainly Fair for Me”: Hybrid Masculinities and the Gendered Division of Labor during COVID-19” was published in the journal, Men and Masculinities. The researchers focused exclusively on responses from the fathers. They found that the men believed they were equally involved in childcare and household responsibilities with their wives – when in reality, they avoided a truly equal division of labor with their wives. 

“Many fathers made statements such as ‘It’s certainly fair for me,’” Abromaviciute said, “which illustrates the notion that men saw themselves as being fair, even when their wives were carrying an undue burden.”  

Building on the insights of the first two articles, the third study, “A Game of Chutes and Ladders: Gender and Aspirational Resources during the COVID-19 Pandemic”, published in Sociological Forum, shifts the focus from household labor to career ambition. It revealed that the ripple effects of domestic inequality extend well beyond the home, shaping parents’ long-term career aspirations in gendered ways.

The researchers explored the ways in which the pandemic affected the couples’ career goals and what types of support kept them on their career tracks. 

“We find that, in many cases, women's career aspirations diminished or became less  accomplishable during the pandemic, more so than men's because of the gendered division of labor at home,” said Abromaviciute.

“Importantly,” she continued, “we found that job security, standardized career ladders and access to and the decision to use paid childcare functioned as aspirational resources for women: mothers in secure jobs with career ladders and fewer childcare responsibilities could maintain their career plans.” Career ladders are structured paths of advancement that pave the way for employees to progress in their companies. Women who had a clear sense of their next career step were more likely to maintain their goals during the pandemic than women in jobs without ladders.

In contrast, even fathers in ladderless, insecure jobs like contract work could expand their career aspirations, in some cases relying on their spouses’ or paid household labor to take extra time to bolster their careers. Men took on new projects, went back to school, and felt hopeful about their growing careers.

“Our findings demonstrate how gender, job structures and household arrangements intersect in shaping career aspirations during times of broad social disruptions, ultimately advantaging men and disadvantaging women,” said Mickey.

Together, the three studies demonstrate how the pandemic deepened gender inequalities in the family as even highly-educated, progressive couples relied on traditional gender workloads as they navigated uncertainty.These findings underscore a need for structural supports —  such as flexible work policies, equitable parental leave and accessible childcare —  to prevent crises from reinforcing gender inequality in even the most egalitarian households.