@TechReport{iza:izadps:dp18657,
            	author={Binder, Ariel J.},
            	title={Gender Convergence in Couples' Time Use Following the COVID-19 Pandemic},
            	year={2026},
	month={May},
            	institution={Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)},
            	address={Bonn},
            	type={IZA Discussion Paper},
            	number={18657},
            	url={https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp18657},
	abstract={This paper uses American Time Use Survey data to show that prime-age men's and women's average weekly work hours followed parallel trends from 2011-19, but then abruptly converged in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic. This convergence was driven by the changing behavior of couples, for whom the gender gap in weekly hours of paid work closed by 4.3 on a base of 14.7 (29.3%). While historical gender convergence has been driven by wives, husbands accounted for three-quarters (all) of the recent convergence in paid work (unpaid housework). I find that two labor market factors associated with the pandemic - sectoral reallocation and remote work-exposure - explain little of observed time-use changes in samples of husbands and fathers, although they explain 44% of the shrinking college-noncollege gap in paid work observed among fathers. These results suggest an ongoing shift in labor supply factors associated with fatherhood that may be stronger among the college-educated.},
	keywords={time use;employment;labor supply;housework;remote work;leisure;fatherhood;gender norms;COVID-19},
            }