Nearly Half of Men Say They Do Most of the Home Schooling. 3 Percent of Women Agree.

[Celerity]

A survey suggests that pandemic-era domestic work isn’t being divided more equitably than before the lockdown.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/06/upshot/pandemic-chores-homeschooling-gender.html



Home schooling, the new parental chore brought about by coronavirus lockdowns, is being handled disproportionately by women, according to a new poll by Morning Consult for The New York Times. Fathers don’t necessarily agree — nearly half of those with children under 12 report spending more time on it than their spouse — but just 3 percent of women say their spouse is doing more. Eighty percent of mothers say they spend more time on it.



There is also more of the usual housework and child care during lockdown. Even though men and women are both doing more, the survey found, the results suggest they aren’t dividing the work any differently or more equitably than they were before. Seventy percent of women say they’re fully or mostly responsible for housework during lockdown, and 66 percent say so for child care — roughly the same shares as in typical times.

Again, men and women see it differently. A much smaller share of men, about 20 percent, agree that their spouses are fully or mostly responsible for both housework and child care. About 20 percent of men say they are fully or mostly responsible for these tasks during lockdown. Only around 2 percent of women agree. Past research using time diaries has consistently shown that men often overestimate the amount they do, and that women do more. Many researchers and couples assumed women were bearing the brunt of the extra labor during the pandemic, but this is among the first efforts to quantify it at a national level. The survey asked questions of a representative group of 2,200 Americans in April. (The questions about housework and child care were asked only of people who said they lived with partners or children.)

Another, not-yet-published survey of domestic labor during the pandemic, by a University of Utah sociologist, Daniel L. Carlson, and colleagues, found that similar shares of men reported doing more than women said they did. The survey also found that mothers were primarily responsible for home schooling, even when couples otherwise shared child care responsibilities. The additional time that women typically spend on domestic work, particularly child care, has significant consequences outside the home: It is a major reason for their lower pay and stunted career paths. Now that they’re spending even more time on these chores because of the pandemic, the repercussions could worsen.

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[Igel]

1. It's a common problem.

Researchers co-write papers. And some psychologist apparently decided that everybody claiming credit was a bit much. So there have been research papers on credit-claiming in research papers.

The average amount claimed totals fairly consistently to about 140%.

The first such paper was offensive. And was replicated. Which was offensive. So that was replicated. Almost everybody overvalues their contributions and undervalues others'.

Think of it as a human thing.

It's been repeated on engineering teams, so it's not just a bunch of crazy psychologists.

Unless these particular researchers videoed the people doing the homeschooling, the housework, etc., I don't believe what the people report. I don't care if it's a written time diary. "Written" doesn't mean "accurate".

That the research supports what the researchers assumed was the case doesn't qualm my concerns.

[appalachiablue]

2. Not surprised, sorry to say

[tavernier]

3. It's a little like Thanksgiving with invited guests.

Mama does all the shopping, cleans and decorates the house, gets up at six to start the dinner, sets the table, serves the dinner, clears the table, washes the dishes. Papa carves the bird and watches football. As the last guest leaves papa says, “Nice day but I’m just not sure it’s worth all the work... I’m beat.”