Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2025-9
Gender Division of Housework and Intimate Partner Violence Among Mothers of Toddlers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Findings from the 2019 Rio Grande (Brazil) Birth Cohort
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we evaluated the association between gender division of housework and intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization in a population-based cohort of mothers. We collected data on psychological, physical, and sexual IPV using an adapted version of the World Health Organization Violence Against Women instrument and division of housework using a validated questionnaire. We used logistic regression to calculate adjusted odds ratios. We found that in mothers who reported an unequal gender division of housework (higher load), the odds of suffering psychological, physical, or sexual IPV were higher during the first and second years of the pandemic.
BaldwinJ. (2001). Modelo de Maria and machismo: The social construction of gender in Brazil. Interamerican Journal of Psychology, 35(1), 9–29. https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=28435101
2.
BeltrãoK. I.AlvesJ. E. D. (2009). Reversal of the gender gap in Brazilian education in the 20th century. Cadernos de Pesquisa, 39(136), 125–156. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0100-15742009000100007
3.
Ben YahmedS. (2018). Formal but less equal. Gender wage gaps in formal and informal jobs in urban Brazil. World Development, 101(C), 73–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2017.08.012
4.
CarlsonD. L.PettsR. J.PepinJ. R. (2021). Changes in US parents’ domestic labor during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sociological Inquiry, 92(3), 1217–1244. https://doi.org/10.1111/soin.12459
5.
ChauhanP. (2021). Gendering COVID-19: Impact of the pandemic on women’s burden of unpaid work in India. Gender Issues, 38(4), 395. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12147-020-09269-w
6.
ChoM.ImpettE. A.CamposB.ChenS.KeltnerD. (2020). Socioeconomic inequality undermines relationship quality in romantic relationships. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 37(5), 1722–1742. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407520907969
CiftciA.KasapogluA. (2015). Predictors of violence and depression: The case of adolescents in Turkey. International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health, 27(4), 425–432. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijamh-2014-0048
GarciaL. P.da SilvaG. D. M. (2018). Violência por parceiro íntimo: perfil dos atendimentos em serviços de urgência e emergência nas capitais dos estados brasileiros, 2014. Cadernos de Saúde Pública, 34(4), e00062317. https://doi.org/10.1590/0102-311x00062317
11.
Garcia-MorenoC.JansenH. a. F. M.EllsbergM.HeiseL.WattsC. H. (2005). WHO multi-country study on women’s health and domestic violence against women: Initial results on prevalence, health outcomes and women’s responses. World Health Organization. https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/43309
12.
Giménez-NadalJ. I.MangiavacchiL.PiccoliL. (2019). Keeping inequality at home: The genesis of gender roles in housework. Labour Economics, 58(1), 52–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2019.03.006
13.
GoularteJ. F.SerafimS. D.ColomboR.HoggB.CaldieraroM. A.RosaA. R. (2021). COVID-19 and mental health in Brazil: Psychiatric symptoms in the general population. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 132(1), 32–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.09.021
14.
GreenhausJ. H.BeutellN. J. (1985). Sources of conflict between work and family roles. The Academy of Management Review, 10(1), 76–88. https://doi.org/10.2307/258214
15.
HarrisP. A.TaylorR.ThielkeR.PayneJ.GonzalezN.CondeJ. G. (2009). Research electronic data capture (REDCap)—A metadata-driven methodology and workflow process for providing translational research informatics support. Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 42(2), 377–381. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbi.2008.08.010
16.
HicksM. H.MohsinM.SiloveD.FisherJ.MoussaB.SteelZ.NancarrowH.NadarN.KleinL.HasounF.YousifM.KhalilB.KrishnaY.ReesS. J. (2021). Attitudes towards gender roles and prevalence of intimate partner violence perpetrated against pregnant and postnatal women: Differences between women immigrants from conflict-affected countries and women born in Australia. PLoS One, 16(7), e0255105. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255105
LiQ.KirbyR. S.SiglerR. T.HwangS. S.LaGoryM. E.GoldenbergR. L. (2010). A multilevel analysis of individual, household, and neighborhood correlates of intimate partner violence among low-income pregnant women in Jefferson County, Alabama. American Journal of Public Health, 100(3), 531–539. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2008.151159
19.
LovestadS.LoveJ.VaezM.KrantzG. (2017). Prevalence of intimate partner violence and its association with symptoms of depression: A cross-sectional study based on a female population sample in Sweden. BMC Public Health, 17(1), 335. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-017-4222-y
20.
MojahedA.AlaidarousN.KoppM.PogarellA.ThielF.Garthus-NiegelS. (2021). Prevalence of intimate partner violence among intimate partners during the perinatal period: A narrative literature review. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12, 601236. https://doi.org/10.3389/FPSYT.2021.601236
21.
NashS. P.SevareidE. E.LongmoreM. A.ManningW. D.GiordanoP. C. (2022). The stress of motherhood and intimate partner violence during emerging adulthood. Emerging Adulthood, 10(5), 1204–1215. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167696820984859
22.
NordenmarkM.NymanC. (2003). Fair or unfair? Perceived fairness of household division of labour and gender. Equality among women and men: The Swedish case. European Journal of Women’s Studies, 10(2), 181–209. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350506803010002004
23.
RodriguezM. A.HeilemannM. V.FielderE.AngA.NevarezF.MangioneC. M. (2008). Intimate partner violence, depression, and PTSD among pregnant Latina women. Annals of Family Medicine, 6(1), 44–52. https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.743
24.
RoeschE.AminA.GuptaJ.García-MorenoC. (2020). Violence against women during covid-19 pandemic restrictions. BMJ, 369(8245), Article m1712. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m1712
25.
SardinhaL.Maheu-GirouxM.StöcklH.MeyerS. R.García-MorenoC. (2022). Global, regional, and national prevalence estimates of physical or sexual, or both, intimate partner violence against women in 2018. The Lancet, 399(10327), 803–813. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02664-7
26.
SchraiberL. B.D'OliveiraA. F.França-JuniorI.DinizS.PortellaA. P.LudermirA. B.ValençaO.CoutoM. T. (2007). Prevalence of intimate partner violence against women in regions of Brazil. Revista de Saúde Pública, 41(5), 797–807. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0034-89102007000500014
27.
ShaferK.ScheiblingC.MilkieM. A. (2020). The division of domestic labor before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada: Stagnation versus shifts in fathers’ contributions. Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue Canadienne de Sociologie, 57(4), 523–549. https://doi.org/10.1111/cars.12315
28.
SilvaA. F. D.EstrelaF. M.SoaresC. F. S. E.MagalhãesJ. R. F.LimaN. S.MoraisA. C.GomesN. P.LimaV. L. A. (2020). Elementos precipitadores/intensificadores da violência conjugal em tempo da Covid-19. Ciência & Saúde Coletiva, 25(9), 3475–3480. https://doi.org/10.1590/1413-81232020259.16132020
29.
SörlinA.LindholmL.NgN.HmanA. (2011). Gender equality in couples and self-rated health - A survey study evaluating measurements of gender equality and its impact on health. International Journal for Equity in Health, 10(37), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-9276-10-37
30.
Ti TiwariA.ChanK. L.FongD.LeungW. C.BrownridgeD. A.LamH.WongB.LamC. M.ChauF.ChanA.CheungK. B.HoP. C. (2008). The impact of psychological abuse by an intimate partner on the mental health of pregnant women. Bjog, 115(3), 377–84. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-0528.2007.01593.x
31.
VasconcelosN. M. D.MartinsF.AndradeD. D.GomesC. S. (2021). Prevalência e fatores associados a violência por parceiro íntimo contra mulheres adultas no Brasil: Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde. Revista Brasileira de Epidemiologia, 24(Suppl. 2), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1590/1980-549720210020.supl.2
32.
VieiraP. R.GarciaL. P.MacielE. L. N. (2020). Isolamento social e o aumento da violência doméstica. o que isso nos revela Rev Bras Epidemiol, 23(1), Article e200033. https://doi.org/10.1590/1980-549720200033
33.
VitóriaB. d. A.RibeiroM. T.CarvalhoV. S. (2022). The work-family interface and the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, Article 914474. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.914474
34.
WedajoL. F.MamoA. M.AlemuS. S.MesfinB. A. (2023). Extended postpartum intimate partner violence and its associated factors: community-based cross-sectional study design. BMC Women’s Health, 23(1), 501. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-023-02649-w
35.
WillieT. C.KershawT. S. (2019). An ecological analysis of gender inequality and intimate partner violence in the United States. Preventive Medicine, 118(1), 257–263. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2018.10.019
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
