Mothers are being penalised by the continued closure of schools

Different groups in society have been affected by the virus in different ways. On the medical side, men are more likely to have ended up in hospital but women have been disproportionately hit by the economic impact of coping with the lockdown. Research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London suggests that working mothers could be left with lasting damage to their careers through trying to balance working from home with childcare responsibilities.

The survey of 3,500 families shows that mothers are more likely than fathers to have left paid work since February and, where both partners are still in a job, women have seen a bigger proportional reduction in hours. Among those doing paid work at home mothers are more likely to be spending the time simultaneously trying to care for the children. However, the survey also indicated that this is shared more than it used to be, as are other household responsibilities.

It is the reduction in hours worked that the survey fears will jeopardise the careers of mothers, many of whom will have taken maternity leave, which in itself can impair ambitions for advancement.

Another baleful consequence of the lockdown, then, could be to arrest the progress made in recent years to help working women narrow the gender pay gap by helping with childcare costs and other measures. One researcher observed: “The vast increase in the amount of childcare that mothers are doing under lockdown, which many are juggling alongside paid work, is likely to put a strain on their wellbeing.”

Of course, where fathers who are also at home are not pulling their weight, they should. Indeed, the survey found that, on average, fathers are doing nearly double the hours of childcare they were before the crisis. The report finds this encouraging and hopes that the experience of lockdown may encourage fundamental changes in the attitudes of parents, children and employers to the role of fathers in meeting family needs for childcare and domestic work during the working week.

Perhaps it will serve as an impetus for a more equal sharing of home responsibilities between mothers and fathers after the lockdown ends. But a much more straightforward solution is to get the schools back as quickly as possible.