#Moms cut work hours during coronavirus lockdowns to care for kids, study suggests

By Michael Hollan, Fox News

Moms are still getting stuck with the kids, even during coronavirus lockdowns.

A new study suggests that working moms with young kids have had to reduce their work hours more than working dads have, even when they’re working from home.

The research listed several possible reasons why this might have been happening.

The study was published in the journal “Gender, Work and Organization” and used data from about 60,000 U.S. households, Yahoo Lifestyle reported. Researchers collected information about married couples’ work hours from February to April in households where both parents were working.

According to the results, fathers tended to work a full work week while moms’ hours were reduced by about two hours a week.

The households most affected by the lockdowns included families with elementary school-aged children (or younger). Researchers said children in this age range have needed the most attention throughout the day.

Part of the reason why some parents had to scale back their work hours was due to a loss in access to other caregivers, such as babysitters, day care or summer camps. Also, during the lockdown, many kids were unable to go on traditional outings, forcing them to stay home for longer periods of time.

Other surveys have shown more promising data, however.

A survey of 2,000 Americans showed that the lockdown brought families closer together. With parents working from home and children using remote learning for school, families got to experience more moments that they otherwise may have missed.

Many parents responding to the survey said they had experienced a milestone that they would’ve missed had they been out of the house at work, while others reported an increase in heart-to-heart conversations.