Paid and Unpaid Work in Pandemic Times. A Study on the Division of Household Labour and the Subjective Well-Being of Working Mothers in Italy

This article draws on data from a web-based survey carried out in Italy between May and June 2020 to explore how lockdown measures affected individual well-being, family life and the use of time for paid/unpaid work. Our analysis focuses on working mothers with minor children living in couples. Descriptive results show that lockdown measures had a considerable impact on the total workload borne by women, while their male partners only slightly increased their contribution to childcare and domestic chores. The regression analysis on the relationship between mothers’ satisfaction with the division of unpaid family work and their subjective well-being show that mothers who reported lower satisfaction felt more fatigued and stressed in relation to housework, childcare, and paid work during the lockdown.