%0 Report
        %A Modestino, Alicia Sasser
%A Finn, Zachary
%A Ladge, Jamie
%A Lincoln, Alisa
        %T Childcare as Infrastructure: The Impact of COVID-19 on Childcare and Gender Equity
        %D 2025
        %8 2025 Jul
        %I Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        %C Bonn
        %7 IZA Discussion Paper
        %N 18004
        %U https://www.iza.org/publications/dp18004
        %X Conducting a nationally representative survey of 2,500 working parents between Mother's and Father's Day of 2020, we examine gender differences in the childcare shock during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on demographic, household, and labor market factors, we document gender differences in time use, work status, mental health, job satisfaction, and employer benefits. Using variation in pre-pandemic characteristics to measure exposure to the childcare shock, we find mothers in the more vulnerable group were 15 percentage points more likely to experience a reduction in hours due to childcare than similarly situated fathers. Although paid family leave helped narrow the gap in hours between mothers and fathers in the affected group, newer COVID-19 workplace practices such as working from home and childcare subsidies had no effect.
        %K household decision-making
%K gender differences
%K childcare
%K paid
leave
%K COVID-19