Women do most childcare, as men say responsiblities affect their work
WOMEN HAVE been “bearing the brunt” of childcare responsibilities under the coronavirus lockdown, yet men are more likely to say caring or domestic roles are negatively impacting on their paid jobs, research has revealed.
The study by King’s College London found that since the lockdown, mothers said they were spending seven hours on an average weekday on childcare, compared to just five hours for fathers.
Despite this, 43 per cent of men said their caring or domestic responsibilities are negatively impacting their ability to do their paid job by at least a fair amount, versus 32 per cent of working mothers who say the same.
The survey also revealed differences in the way men and women view the pandemic, with women more likely to find coronavirus stressful.
More than half saying they felt anxious or depressed, and men more likely to be comfortable with a return to the workplace than women.
The director of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London, Professor Rosie Campbell, said: “Despite the pandemic putting home and work lives under strain, fathers don’t appear to be helping out with the children more.
But they do seem to be getting a bigger shock from having to balance their caring and domestic responsibilities with new ways of working – which may reflect the fact they are simply less used to combining both types of work.”
Separate research from University College London (UCL) has examined changing behaviours in the lockdown and found more than half of the UK population are now exercising or meditating at least once a day, while the younger generation are becoming more irritable and struggling the most.
Yoga, meditation and reading have seen the biggest increase in relaxation activities and walking, cycling and running are on the rise, with people doing more of previous sporting activities rather than finding new ones.
Dr Caroline Wood, of the UCL Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies, said: “It’s important to stay motivated to protect our mental and physical well-being.”