scholarly journals The Gender Gap in Household Tasks and Division of Labor Satisfaction During COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Haney ◽  
Kristen Barber

For many years, scholars have directed our attention to the gender gap in domestic labor. Even when women engage in paid employment, they nevertheless perform the majority of the household labor in most wealthy countries. At the same time, disasters and crises both expose and exacerbate existing social inequalities. In this paper, we ask: in what ways has the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the gender gap in household labor, including childcare? And how do men and women feel about this gap? Using data from the Canadian Perspectives survey series (Wave 3), conducted by Statistics Canada three months into the pandemic, our analyses consider the task distribution that made household labor intensely unequal during COVID-19, with women ten times more likely than men to say childcare fell mostly on them, for example. Yet, in nearly all of our models, women did not unambiguously report being more dissatisfied with the division of domestic tasks within the house, nor were they more likely than men to say that the household division of labor “got worse” during COVID, however, parents (mothers and fathers) did feel that it got worse. We discuss what these findings mean for women’s mental health, long-term paid labor, and interpersonal power, and raise questions about why it is we are not seeing a decrease in women’s reported satisfaction with this division of labor. These findings spotlight gender inequality as pillars of capitalism, and how the structural and the interpersonal weathering of the pandemic comes at women’s expense.

2004 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 182-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa A. Cubbins ◽  
Dana Vannoy

Using data on Moscowcouples, this study investigates the division of household labor and its effects on marital conflict and thought of divorce. The hypotheses predict how spouses’economic resources, gender beliefs, and time constraints influence marital contention both directly and indirectly through wife’s perceived division of household labor and her satisfaction with it. Husband’s marital contention also is analyzed. Among the findings, the spouses’ relative characteristics have some influence on the division of household labor, and the relative characteristics condition the effects of household labor on wife’s perceived marital conflict and thoughts of divorce. Household labor is most important in predicting marital contention for wives, but it is only somewhat important for husbands. While demonstrating that the household division of labor should be given more attention in Russian family research, the study provides an important comparative analysis for American scholars on the role of domestic labor in couple dynamics.


2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
THIJS VAN DEN BROEK ◽  
PEARL A. DYKSTRA ◽  
ROMKE J. VAN DER VEEN

ABSTRACTRecent long-term care (LTC) reforms in the Netherlands are illustrative of those taking place in countries with a universalistic LTC model based on extensive provision of state-supported services. They entail a shift from de-familialisation, in which widely available state-supported LTC services relieve family members from the obligations to care for relatives in need, to supported familialism, in which family involvement in care-giving is fostered through support and recognition for families in keeping up their caring responsibilities. Using data from four waves of the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study (N = 2,197), we show that between 2002 and 2014 the predicted probability that adult children provide occasional household support to impaired parents rose substantially. Daughters more often provided household support to parents than did sons, but no increase in the gender gap over time was found. We could not attribute the increase in children's provision of household support to drops in the use of state-supported household services. The finding that more and more adult children are stepping in to help their ageing parents fits a more general trend in the Netherlands of increasing interactions in intergenerational families.


1986 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
REBECCA L. WARNER

This article explores some substantive and methodological implications of using different data gathering techniques for measuring a couple's division of household labor. Four measurement strategies, each requiring reports from both spouses, compared: the relative distribution approach, a weighted distribution, a time reconstruction method, and the activity log approach. Differences in average total estimates produced by the techniques are small, and regardless of the method used, the wife's contribution to housework is higher. Responsibility for domestic labor is suggested as one explanation for the finding that cross-method comparisons are closer for wives than husbands.


1992 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 283-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. B. Beckwith

The division of labor in mixed-gender households is discussed on the basis of stereotypical expectations, as well as time-use diary data. The stereotypes as generated by 210 adults, of average age 25 years, were consistent with reality, as depicted by the diary data from an independent study. In both data sets, the image of the double shift emerged. Women were seen as doing most of the unpaid work, and tasks were gender-segregated. Expectations of women, reinforced by values and power differences, appear unchanged by women's increasing participation in paid labor. Social policies which address women's experience of paid labor therefore need to address the division of unpaid labor. Equalising unpaid labor means mobilising men to become involved in essential, but unrewarded, tasks.


Author(s):  
Mariya Stoilova ◽  
Sonia Livingstone ◽  
Giovanna Mascheroni

Mobile devices play a growing role in the everyday lives of children around the world, prompting important questions about their effects on childhood experiences. Exploring the recent global trends in children’s use of smartphone devices, the authors examine the reconfiguring of children’s communicative practices and cultures of connectivity, documenting the opportunities and risks that smartphone technology affords. Throughout the chapter the authors challenge the notion of “digital childhoods,” drawing on the most reliable research on children and smartphones including findings from Global Kids Online, which suggest that digital divides intersect with existing social inequalities, exacerbating the barriers for less privileged children. This raises further questions about the long-term consequences for children’s development, rights, and future access to opportunities and resources.


Rheumatology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuichi Yamasaki ◽  
Norimoto Kobayashi ◽  
Shinji Akioka ◽  
Kazuko Yamazaki ◽  
Shunichiro Takezaki ◽  
...  

Abstract Objectives This study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics, treatment and prognosis of juvenile idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (JIIM) in Japan for each myositis-specific autoantibody (MSA) profile. Methods A multicentre, retrospective study was conducted using data of patients with JIIM at nine paediatric rheumatology centres in Japan. Patients with MSA profiles, determined by immunoprecipitation using stored serum from the active stage, were included. Results MSA were detected in 85 of 96 cases eligible for the analyses. Over 90% of the patients in this study had one of the following three MSA types: anti-melanoma differentiation-associated protein 5 (MDA5) (n = 31), anti-transcriptional intermediary factor 1 alpha and/or gamma subunits (TIF1γ) (n = 25) and anti-nuclear matrix protein 2 (NXP2) (n = 25) antibodies. Gottron papules and periungual capillary abnormalities were the most common signs of every MSA group in the initial phase. The presence of interstitial lung disease (ILD) was the highest risk factor for patients with anti-MDA5 antibodies. Most patients were administered multiple drug therapies: glucocorticoids and MTX were administered to patients with anti-TIF1γ or anti-NXP2 antibodies. Half of the patients with anti-MDA5 antibodies received more than three medications including i.v. CYC, especially patients with ILD. Patients with anti-MDA5 antibodies were more likely to achieve drug-free remission (29 vs 21%) and less likely to relapse (26 vs 44%) than others. Conclusion Anti-MDA5 antibodies are the most common MSA type in Japan, and patients with this antibody are characterized by ILD at onset, multiple medications including i.v. CYC, drug-free remission, and a lower frequency of relapse. New therapeutic strategies are required for other MSA types.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1420326X2110036
Author(s):  
Qian Xu ◽  
Chan Lu ◽  
Rachael Gakii Murithi ◽  
Lanqin Cao

A cohort case–control study was conducted in XiangYa Hospital, Changsha, China, which involved 305 patients and 399 healthy women, from June 2010 to December 2018, to evaluate the association between Chinese women’s short- and long-term exposure to industrial air pollutant, SO2 and gynaecological cancer (GC). We obtained personal and family information from the XiangYa Hospital electronic computer medical records. Using data obtained from the air quality monitoring stations in Changsha, we estimated each woman’s exposure to the industrial air pollutant, sulphur dioxide (SO2), for different time windows, including the past 1, 5, 10 and 15 years before diagnosis of the disease. A multiple logistic regression model was used to assess the association between GC and SO2 exposure. GC was significantly associated with long-term SO2 exposure, with adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) = 1.56 (1.10–2.21) and 1.81 (1.07–3.06) for a per interquartile range increase in the past 10 and 15 years, respectively. Sensitivity analysis showed that different groups reacted in different ways to long-term SO2 exposure. We concluded that long-term exposure to high concentration of industrial pollutant, SO2 is associated with the development of GC. This finding has implications for the prevention and reduction of GC.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6059
Author(s):  
Irati Otamendi-Irizar ◽  
Olatz Grijalba ◽  
Alba Arias ◽  
Claudia Pennese ◽  
Rufino Hernández

Cities are the main contributors to pollution, resource consumption and social inequalities. Therefore, they should play a key role in the path towards a more sustainable scenario in line with SDGs and different Urban Agendas. However, there are still difficulties in their implementation and citizen can play a central role. This paper presents the Urban Action Structures (UAS), understood as entities with a catalytic capacity with respect to innovative urban policies. Methodologically, firstly, a prospective analysis from regional to international level has been developed, making it possible to identify innovative lines of action in the field of sustainable cities. Secondly, the study has focused on identifying and studying UAS that can make it possible to implement the lines of action previously identified. This paper has shown that there are already social structures that can be understood as UAS, since they implement actions aligned with the priorities of the Urban Agenda for the Basque Country and, therefore, of the SDGs. The research concludes that UAS can play a key role in facilitating the implementation of Urban Agendas. Hence, urban policies should favor the generation of UAS, in order to promote long-term urban development and to foster a more sustainable spatial planning.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bohan Liu ◽  
Pan Liu ◽  
Lutao Dai ◽  
Yanlin Yang ◽  
Peng Xie ◽  
...  

AbstractThe pandemic of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is causing enormous loss of life globally. Prompt case identification is critical. The reference method is the real-time reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) assay, whose limitations may curb its prompt large-scale application. COVID-19 manifests with chest computed tomography (CT) abnormalities, some even before the onset of symptoms. We tested the hypothesis that the application of deep learning (DL) to 3D CT images could help identify COVID-19 infections. Using data from 920 COVID-19 and 1,073 non-COVID-19 pneumonia patients, we developed a modified DenseNet-264 model, COVIDNet, to classify CT images to either class. When tested on an independent set of 233 COVID-19 and 289 non-COVID-19 pneumonia patients, COVIDNet achieved an accuracy rate of 94.3% and an area under the curve of 0.98. As of March 23, 2020, the COVIDNet system had been used 11,966 times with a sensitivity of 91.12% and a specificity of 88.50% in six hospitals with PCR confirmation. Application of DL to CT images may improve both efficiency and capacity of case detection and long-term surveillance.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 175628642092268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Patti ◽  
Andrea Visconti ◽  
Antonio Capacchione ◽  
Sanjeev Roy ◽  
Maria Trojano ◽  
...  

Background: The CLARINET-MS study assessed the long-term effectiveness of cladribine tablets by following patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) in Italy, using data from the Italian MS Registry. Methods: Real-world data (RWD) from Italian MS patients who participated in cladribine tablets randomised clinical trials (RCTs; CLARITY, CLARITY Extension, ONWARD or ORACLE-MS) across 17 MS centres were obtained from the Italian MS Registry. RWD were collected during a set observation period, spanning from the last dose of cladribine tablets during the RCT (defined as baseline) to the last visit date in the registry, treatment switch to other disease-modifying drugs, date of last Expanded Disability Status Scale recording or date of the last relapse (whichever occurred last). Time-to-event analysis was completed using the Kaplan–Meier (KM) method. Median duration and associated 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated from the model. Results: Time span under observation in the Italian MS Registry was 1–137 (median 80.3) months. In the total Italian patient population ( n = 80), the KM estimates for the probability of being relapse-free at 12, 36 and 60 months after the last dose of cladribine tablets were 84.8%, 66.2% and 57.2%, respectively. The corresponding probability of being progression-free at 60 months after the last dose was 63.7%. The KM estimate for the probability of not initiating another disease-modifying treatment at 60 months after the last dose of cladribine tablets was 28.1%, and the median time-to-treatment change was 32.1 (95% CI 15.5–39.5) months. Conclusion: CLARINET-MS provides an indirect measure of the long-term effectiveness of cladribine tablets. Over half of MS patients analysed did not relapse or experience disability progression during 60 months of follow-up from the last dose, suggesting that cladribine tablets remain effective in years 3 and 4 after short courses at the beginning of years 1 and 2.


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