Motherhood and the Mental Load of Parenting During COVID-19

• In Event: Sociology of Sex and Gender Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 7. Parenting, Household Labor, and Family Negotiation

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic, with its accompanying school and childcare closures, increased demands on parents’ time, and researchers have documented the unequal impact this had on mothers (compared to fathers). Why did mothers take on a greater share of the extra work the pandemic introduced? Drawing on interviews with 112 U.S. parents (primarily mothers) of children in grades K-12 conducted between March and August 2020, I argue that, while fathers shared in some household and caring labor, the less-visible mental labor of parenting during the pandemic was primarily maternal terrain. I discuss three examples of the pandemic-specific mental load, or the cognitive and emotional labor introduced by the pandemic that the mothers I interviewed discuss primarily taking on: 1) management of children’s remote schooling, including organizing and keeping track of schedules, passwords, and due-dates and researching curricula and learning activities 2) worry about, and management of, children’s mental and emotional health, especially related to social isolation and fears about the pandemic, and 3) anxiety and decision making about returning to in-person schooling and other in-person activities. For the mothers I interviewed, this highly gendered mental labor not only takes time, but also takes mothers’ energy and attention away from other activities, including paid work, self-care, and sleep. I argue that attention to the mental labor of mothers is essential for understanding the gendered nature of parenting during the pandemic.

Author

• Kate Henley Averett, University at Albany, SUNY