You are studying the effect of the pandemic on new mothers. How did the project begin?

It actually started two years before the pandemic. We were interested in understanding how mothers decide what kind of parent they want to be, and what kinds of factors get in the way of that. So we started interviewing pregnant women about the parenting decisions they expected to make on controversial things like vaccines, screen time, and breastfeeding. Then we followed those moms through the first two years of the child’s life, checking in to see how they’re doing and whether they made the decisions they expected to make, and if not, what factors got in the way. We were still doing those interviews when the pandemic hit, and it became very clear, very quickly, how much of a toll the pandemic was taking on these moms — so we kind of pivoted to ask targeted questions about the impact of the pandemic on their mental health, relationships, and employment.

What have you found so far?

One of the most important things that we have found in our research is that women are doing a disproportionate share of the unpaid labour that is happening as a result of the pandemic. Women across the board reported that they take the pandemic much more seriously than their partners do, and are also the ones who are primarily responsible for managing household risk, doing the extra cleaning, making sure that everyone has a mask and that they wear their masks and washing their hands. Women also seem to be doing the bulk of the added labour associated with health and safety during the pandemic — scheduling doctor’s appointments, making sure kids are developmentally on track, keeping track of kids’ vaccinations, and things like that. During the pandemic, mothers seem to be the ones primarily responsible for making those kinds of health decisions, as well. Certainly, dads in many families are doing more, but the research consistently shows a gap. Mothers are picking up the slack.