Care Work After COVID-19: Men Help More, but Women Still Carry the Load

Overview

This IWPR Quick Figure analyzes changes in unpaid caregiving responsibilities before and after the COVID-19 pandemic using data from the American Time Use Survey (2018 and 2023). Family care work is an important public health issue, particularly for responding to long-term care provided in people’s homes. The research finds that while gender gaps in caregiving have slightly narrowed, women remain significantly more likely to provide unpaid care for children and older adults—and spend more time doing so. 

Key Findings

• In 2023, 36.3% of women and 29.4% of men provided at least 30 minutes of unpaid care per day—a gender care gap of 81.0%.
   
• Between 2018 and 2023, caregiving rates declined for most groups except Asian women and Latino men.
   
• Women caregivers spent an average of 6.7 hours providing care, while men spent 5.6 hours on the reference day.
   
• Gender gaps in caregiving hours improved slightly for Asian, Latina, and White women, but worsened for Black women.
   
• The pandemic underscored long-standing inequalities in how unpaid care work is distributed, with significant implications for women’s earnings and employment opportunities.

Policy Implications

The findings support a growing body of research demonstrating that unpaid care responsibilities contribute to women’s economic insecurity. The authors call for federal policies that expand access to paid family and medical leave and improve care infrastructure to support a more equitable distribution of caregiving labor.