Working From Home and Gendered Labour Time: COVID-19’s Ongoing Impact
Melbourne Institute Working Paper No. 12/26
Date: August 2026
Author(s):
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic reshaped work arrangements, prompting widespread adoption of working from home (WFH) and raising questions about its implications for gendered labour. Using Australian panel data and fixed-effects models, this study investigates how WFH shapes time allocations to paid and domestic work among dual-earner households. We examine differential effects by gender, WFH intensity, and children’s age. Findings indicate a postpandemic rise in WFH prevalence and intensity, accompanied by divergent gendered patterns of labour time. Under high-intensity WFH, women particularly mothers of older children, expanded their paid work, while men, especially fathers of young children, substantially increased domestic work. Low-intensity WFH primarily supports additional paid work for both women and men. Overall, the results reveal that WFH does not consistently reinforce or challenge traditional gender patterns; rather, its effects are contingent on intensity and family context, producing both opportunities for and constraints on gender equality in the organisation of work.