Compared to men, women spend more time in unpaid work (household and caregiving tasks; EIGE, 2019). In Portugal, although these gender asymmetries are lower in younger, highly educated couples, they are still perceived as unfair (Amâncio, 2005; Perista, 2016). During pandemic confinements, the outsourcing of these activities is limited (Rosenfeld et al., 2020) thus straining family resources. Additionally, resorting to telecommuting might create some ambivalence, by blurring the boundaries of personal and professional spheres. We intended to analyze the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, asserting the number of hours spent in unpaid work, as well as accounting for perceived fairness of how these hours are distributed among the couple, reasons for gender asymmetries, and the comparison of workload pre and during Covid-19. Data from the first lockdown in Portugal (N=128 workers, cohabiting in a heterosexual relation, Mage=40 years) showed similar gender asymmetries to the ones previously identified in the literature. More precisely, women perceived doing more unpaid work than it would be fair, both in household and caregiving tasks, compared to men. Parents of underage children perceived an increase in caregiving tasks, compared to participants without children, regardless of participants’ sex. When asked qualitatively about reasons for gender asymmetries, women point mainly to cultural and educational aspects. Interestingly, these perceptions changed slightly for those perceiving fairness vs unfairness in the distribution of unpaid work hours: women perceiving fairness referred more often gender stereotypes as the reasons for gender asymmetries, whereas those perceiving unfairness referred more often education factors (how boys are raised). Specifically, for housework, those perceiving unfairness referred more often to essentialized perceptions (women being naturally better at those tasks); separating for caregiving, those perceiving unfairness referred more often the role of men as helper (vs co-responsible) in those tasks. In sum, the optimistic trends for reducing gender inequalities found before Covid-19 (Amâncio & Correia, 2019) were not seen in this sample, although the samples were similar (couples in childbearing years, educated, with small children). It seems that the pandemic impacted gender dynamics in a negative way, increasing inequalities in unpaid work, which can be detrimental for families and societies in the long run.

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• Psychology - Social Sciences