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Socio-Economic Impacts of COVID-19 on Working Mothers in France

Beyond its devastating consequences for public health, the COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on gender inequalities, labour markets and families. Compared to many European countries, the French approach to lockdown was among the more stringent, although the measures taken by the French government...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Lambert, Anne, Girard, Violaine, Guéraut, Elie
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8719263/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34977229
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2021.732580
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author Lambert, Anne
Girard, Violaine
Guéraut, Elie
author_facet Lambert, Anne
Girard, Violaine
Guéraut, Elie
author_sort Lambert, Anne
collection PubMed
description Beyond its devastating consequences for public health, the COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on gender inequalities, labour markets and families. Compared to many European countries, the French approach to lockdown was among the more stringent, although the measures taken by the French government to support employment, to some extent, mitigated the worst effects of the crisis on families. This article analyses the implications of COVID lockdown restrictions on gender equality and well-being for couples with children in France. The study adopted a multidimensional approach to gender inequalities associated with paid work and various dimensions of living conditions, involving gender-differentiated access to personal work spaces in the home, personal leisure time outside the home, and local support networks during the first phase of lockdown (March−June 2020). Drawing on data from the COCONEL survey, carried out by the Institut national d’études démographiques on a quota sample of the French adult population in April/May 2020, the authors controlled for variables including socio-economic status, age, family structure and place of residence. The survey data were complemented by a longitudinal set of in-depth interviews enabling the research team to capture the differential effects of the pandemic within couples. The main findings indicate that, despite the frequency of dual-employment arrangements for heterosexual couple households with dependent children, French mothers were nevertheless more likely to reduce their working time and/or withdraw from the labour market. Within the households surveyed, mothers were less likely than fathers to leave the home during the day, particularly for personal leisure activities. The presence of children in households increased gender inequality in both employment and living conditions across all socio-economic categories. In conclusion, the authors consider whether the pandemic might have a long-term impact on gender norms and inequalities within families, and how the findings about changes in gender inequalities could be used to inform public policy development.
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spelling pubmed-87192632022-01-01 Socio-Economic Impacts of COVID-19 on Working Mothers in France Lambert, Anne Girard, Violaine Guéraut, Elie Front Sociol Sociology Beyond its devastating consequences for public health, the COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on gender inequalities, labour markets and families. Compared to many European countries, the French approach to lockdown was among the more stringent, although the measures taken by the French government to support employment, to some extent, mitigated the worst effects of the crisis on families. This article analyses the implications of COVID lockdown restrictions on gender equality and well-being for couples with children in France. The study adopted a multidimensional approach to gender inequalities associated with paid work and various dimensions of living conditions, involving gender-differentiated access to personal work spaces in the home, personal leisure time outside the home, and local support networks during the first phase of lockdown (March−June 2020). Drawing on data from the COCONEL survey, carried out by the Institut national d’études démographiques on a quota sample of the French adult population in April/May 2020, the authors controlled for variables including socio-economic status, age, family structure and place of residence. The survey data were complemented by a longitudinal set of in-depth interviews enabling the research team to capture the differential effects of the pandemic within couples. The main findings indicate that, despite the frequency of dual-employment arrangements for heterosexual couple households with dependent children, French mothers were nevertheless more likely to reduce their working time and/or withdraw from the labour market. Within the households surveyed, mothers were less likely than fathers to leave the home during the day, particularly for personal leisure activities. The presence of children in households increased gender inequality in both employment and living conditions across all socio-economic categories. In conclusion, the authors consider whether the pandemic might have a long-term impact on gender norms and inequalities within families, and how the findings about changes in gender inequalities could be used to inform public policy development. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-12-17 /pmc/articles/PMC8719263/ /pubmed/34977229 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2021.732580 Text en Copyright © 2021 Lambert, Girard and Guéraut. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Sociology
Lambert, Anne
Girard, Violaine
Guéraut, Elie
Socio-Economic Impacts of COVID-19 on Working Mothers in France
title Socio-Economic Impacts of COVID-19 on Working Mothers in France
title_full Socio-Economic Impacts of COVID-19 on Working Mothers in France
title_fullStr Socio-Economic Impacts of COVID-19 on Working Mothers in France
title_full_unstemmed Socio-Economic Impacts of COVID-19 on Working Mothers in France
title_short Socio-Economic Impacts of COVID-19 on Working Mothers in France
title_sort socio-economic impacts of covid-19 on working mothers in france
topic Sociology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8719263/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34977229
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2021.732580
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