“It’s Certainly Fair for Me”: Hybrid Masculinities and the Gendered Division of Labor during COVID-19

Abstract

We draw on 31 in-depth interviews with fathers in different-sex couples to examine how their masculine performances contributed to the gender gap in household labor during the COVID-19 pandemic. The structural conditions of the pandemic created more and more intensive labor for families with young children, and we argue these conditions provided fathers with an opportunity to perform hybrid masculinities (i.e., masculinities that incorporate elements of non-hegemonic or subordinated masculinities or femininities) while simultaneously maintaining their families' unequal divisions of labor. The fathers in this study (1) exaggerated their childcare and housework contributions and commitment to egalitarianism, (2) decoupled inequality from unfairness, and (3) delayed changes in their household labor until their wives reached their breaking points. In the context of the pandemic, these hybrid masculinities exacerbated intra-couple inequality with potentially long-lasting consequences for marital satisfaction and women’s health and careers. Our study demonstrates how the very conditions that pigeonholed mothers into more traditional, restrictive routines allowed fathers to engage in new and more expansive gendered practices.