Roxy Todd Published

Men Spend More Time With Kids During Pandemic, But Women Still Do More

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During the coronavirus pandemic, both fathers and mothers stepped up to help more with childcare. However, overall, mothers still continue to do 15 hours more housework and childcare. That’s according to a recent survey by Boston Consulting Group, which asked parents in the United States and Europe how the pandemic has affected how they balance work and family responsibilities. 

Sixty percent of parents said they had no outside help in caring for or educating their children during the pandemic. On average, parents are putting in nearly 30 hours of additional labor per week. 

Fathers’ roles at home in the U.S. have changed, but only slightly, in the past 40 years. Only 2 percent of fathers in the 1970s stayed home full time with the kids. By 2013, the percentage of full-time fathers had only grown to 4 percent, according to a study by the nonpartisan think tank the Pew Research Center. 

On average, women with children under the age of 6 in the U.S. typically put in twice as much time caring for children than men, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.