Coronavirus (COVID-19) has changed the lives of families with children in the past few weeks. 

School closures, job losses, and the shift to working from home are all affecting how parents spend their time, and how mothers and fathers divide responsibilities for paid work, housework and childcare.

New research shows that mothers are doing most of the household chores, and childcare during lockdown.

The UK study indicates that in homes where there is a working mother and father, women are doing the bulk of the chores and spending more time with children.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and University College London (UCL) interviewed 3,500 families as part of the study.

Dads are getting more paid work done

The study showed that mothers are also far more likely to be interrupted during paid working hours with household responsibilities than fathers.

The researchers found that mums were only able to do one hour of uninterrupted work, for every three hours done by dads.

Lucy Kraftman, a research economist at the IFS, stated that mothers are doing, on average, more childcare and more housework than fathers who have the same work arrangements.

She said the finding applied to families where a mother and father were both working, as well as to families where both parents were furloughed or out of work.

"The only set of households where we see mothers and fathers sharing childcare and housework equally are those in which both parents were previously working, but the father has now stopped working for pay, while the mother is still in paid work," Lucy said.

"However, mothers in these households are doing paid work during an average of five hours a day, in addition to doing the same amount of domestic work as their partner.”

She added: “The vast increase in the amount of childcare that mothers are doing under lockdown, which many are juggling alongside paid work, is likely to put a strain on their well-being.”

Could lockdown affect mothers’ careers?

The researchers warned that the sharp reduction in the time that mothers are spending dedicated to work amid the crisis could harm their careers and further increase the gender wage gap when lockdown is lifted.

Before lockdown, mothers completed on average around 60% of the uninterrupted work hours that fathers did.

"A risk is that the lockdown leads to a further increase in the gender wage gap," said Alison Andrew from the IFS.

Paula Sheridan, a coach whose UK based firm Unwrapping Potential works with professional women, told the BBC that her clients "almost universally" report that they are the ones planning meals, creating timetables and downloading learning resources for children - along with dozens of other tasks.

She said that one of her clients told her: "[My partner] is furloughed and yet my work telephone calls are interrupted by the children asking questions, while daddy is just watching Netflix.”

Lockdown might have a positive outcome 

There might be cause for hope however, as Deputy Research Director at IFS Sonya Krutikova says that the lockdown may lead to a more equal sharing of household tasks between parents.

"Fathers, on average, are doing nearly double the hours of childcare they were doing prior to the crisis. This may bring about changes in the attitudes of fathers, mothers, children and employers about the role of fathers in meeting family needs for childcare and domestic work during the working week. It may serve as an impetus for a more equal sharing of childcare and housework between mothers and fathers after lockdown ends."