Working from home, care work and shifting gender roles for dual-career couples during the Covid-19 pandemic
An exploratory study of urban Zimbabwe
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12331208 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Musline Munodawafa (0000-0001-6693-3696, corresponding author), Faith Zengeni |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 5-15 |
| Publication date | 2022-04-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Agenda (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1013-0950 • E-ISSN: 2158-978X |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/10130950.2022.2103882 |
| OpenAlex | W4291157115 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 20 |
The complexities brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic have created a new ‘normal’ which has further blurred the boundaries of work and home space, with potential to shift gendered care work roles within the household. As schools and childcare centres have also been closed under the COVID-19 lockdowns, care work has been intensified to cater for the home-schooling of children. In the era of COVID-19, the overlapping of work into the home and vice versa has implications for dual-career couples. Using text-based online interviews, 15 heterosexual dual-career couples were purposively selected to explore how dual-career couples in urban Zimbabwe were balancing work and home life during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Findings indicate that COVID-19 indeed intensified care work for women in the home. There was no significant shift in men’s attitudes towards care work or an increased uptake of domestic labour. Utilising a gender lens to boundary theory and African feminism, the paper shows that care work continues to be perceived as women’s work, with men only coming in to assist where necessary. The study recommends that more work needs to be done to shift men’s attitudes towards care work and lessen the burden for women
Care work · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Dual (grammatical number · Exploratory research · Pandemic · Social science · Sociology · Work (physics · Employment and Welfare Studies · Gender Studies · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Medicine · Psychology · Work-Family Balance Challenges
Role Transitions in Organizational Life
Covid-19 and the workplace
Cases in Online Interview Research
Annual Report 2022
Men and Women’s Power Relationships and the Persisting Inequitable Division of Housework
Paid and unpaid work
Social support (family and supervisor), work–family conflict, and burnout
Using thematic analysis in psychology
Difficult Times
The Impact of Covid-19 on Gender Equality
Household Labor, Gender Roles, and Family Satisfaction
The Work-Family Role System
Research on Household Labor
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.5 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2024 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |