The COVID-19 pandemic brought to light the disproportionate burden on mothers, particularly in household logistics, child care, and financial inequity. Data from 2020 to 2023 revealed that the true impact of this burden was invisible, even to women themselves.
Canadian women earn approximately 69% of the average salary of men, and mothers' salaries decrease by 49% in the year after a child is born and 34% 10 years later, while fathers' salaries are largely unaffected.
Studying families during COVID-19, researchers found that women were often responsible for the majority of housework and child care, even before the pandemic. The social isolation regulations increased family mental-health concerns while decreasing social support.
Qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews and focus groups revealed that mothers juggling working from home with children's daily needs, balancing in-person work without child care, and facing unemployment and financial peril.
The unequal burden of the COVID-19 pandemic on women was evident in the new roles they were required to undertake, the stress associated with these roles, and the psychological and emotional impact of these increased expectations.
However, the concentrated weight of this load was not recognised by those bearing it, with participants in the study not identifying the stories they shared as being connected to the fact that they are women.
The responses revealed how deeply gendered expectations are internalised, framed as circumstance or coincidence rather than inequality.
Only once we truly acknowledge this disproportionate burden can we discuss how these expectations fail everyone, particularly during times of structural instability.
