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The complexities brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic have created a new ‘normal’ which has further blurred the boundaries of work and home space, with potential to shift gendered care work roles within the household. As schools and childcare centres have also been closed under the COVID-19 lockdowns, care work has been intensified to cater for the home-schooling of children. In the era of COVID-19, the overlapping of work into the home and vice versa has implications for dual-career couples. Using text-based online interviews, 15 heterosexual dual-career couples were purposively selected to explore how dual-career couples in urban Zimbabwe were balancing work and home life during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Findings indicate that COVID-19 indeed intensified care work for women in the home. There was no significant shift in men’s attitudes towards care work or an increased uptake of domestic labour. Utilising a gender lens to boundary theory and African feminism, the paper shows that care work continues to be perceived as women’s work, with men only coming in to assist where necessary. The study recommends that more work needs to be done to shift men’s attitudes towards care work and lessen the burden for women.

Working from home, care work and shifting gender roles for dual-career couples during the COVID-19 pandemic: An exploratory study of urban Zimbabwe