Division of Labour – Corona – Homeoffice (ArCoHo)

The COVID 19 pandemic is already considered a time of historic upheaval. Current observations indicate that social inequalities are intensifying, both globally and within families. With regard to gender equality, two main theses are being discussed. On the one hand, there is talk of retraditionalisation. On the other hand, tendencies towards modernisation are placed in the foreground. This is accompanied by an emphasis on opportunities arising from the pandemic, as existing inequalities are made visible and can thus be questioned (Carstensen et al. 2020).
During or since the Corona pandemic, a number of things have changed: On the one hand, the amount of time spent working in a home office has increased massively, at least for one third of the employed, probably with a lasting effect; on the other hand, the specific situation that daycare centres and schools were also closed at times has fundamentally challenged the familial division of labour; and this, too, may have lasting effects on the question of task distribution and attribution of responsibilities.
It is already known from research on flexible work that the amount of time spent on care work generally increases when switching to a home office; in heterosexual partnerships, however, this is usually more for women than for men. For women, the home office can therefore mean that unequal divisions are reinforced to their disadvantage; only when only the man works in the home office can an equalisation of the division of labour be observed. Little is known about the division of labour in other family forms when working in a home office.

Against this background, we are investigating the following questions in the ArCoHo research project: How do couples negotiate their family division of labour in and due to the current situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic? Do possibilities of working flexibly in terms of time and place (home office) or a 'system-relevant' job become a resource of (new) bargaining power in the negotiations? What is the relevance of welfare state interventions in this context?
We are pursuing these questions in a qualitative study in which we are interviewing parental couples in which at least one parent is increasingly active in the home office about their everyday practices between gainful employment and family work as well as reconciliation conflicts.

The project takes place within the framework of the research network "Sorgetransformationen".

Relevante Veröffentlichungen und Vorträge:

A. Peukert; W. Menz; T. Carstensen; S. Antelmann; F. Baum; M. Beblo; E. Bublitz; P. Böhnke; Z. Clark; H. Grün; K. Hinrichs; S. Kerber-Clasen; K. Liebsch; M. Laschinski; L. Lüth; H. Lohmann; A. Mucha; D. Rastetter; A. Vogelpohl; K. Zimmermann (2023): "Sorgetransformation: Interdisziplinärer Forschungsverbund zur Care-Arbeit" in Meier-Gräwe, Uta; Praetorius, Ina ; Tecklenburg, Feline (Hrgs.): "Wirtschaft neu ausrichten", Leverkusen: Verlag Barbara Budrich, p. 249-258.
Peukert, Almut; Beblo, Miriam; Lüth, Laura; Zimmermann, Katharina (2021): "Erwerbs- und Familienarbeit im Homeoffice? Innerfamiliale Arbeitsteilung in der Corona-Krise auf dem Prüfstand", Sozialer Fortschritt, Vol. 71/1, p. 29-51.
Laura Lüth: Activating the Family – Family Models in Active Social Citizenship. Presentation at the digital IPPA conference 2021, Barcelona (08.07.2021).
Prof. Dr. Almut Peukert, Dr. Tanja Carstensen, Prof. Dr. Katharina Zimmermann, Laura Lüth, M.A., Ludwig Ipach, Maureen Quitzau, Christopher Kirschner: "Eltern zwischen Homeoffice und Kinderbetreuung – Neuordnung familialer Arbeitsteilung und der Geschlechterarrangements?" Presentation at the digital DGS/ÖGS congress 2021 in Vienna (23.08.2021).
Peukert, Almut; Zimmermann, Katharina; Menz, Wolfgang: Organisation der Ad-Hoc-Gruppe “Sorgetransformation unter Spannung“ Presentation at the digital DGS congress 2020 (14. – 24.09.2020).
Peukert, Almut; Zimmermann, Katharina: „Arbeitsteilung revisited? Innerfamiliale Carearbeit und Erwerbsarbeit in Zeiten von Corona“. Presentation at the digital DGS congress 2020 (14. – 24.09.2020).