"Even among households in which both parents are able to work from home and are directly exposed to childcare and housework demands, mothers are scaling back to meet these responsibilities to a greater extent than fathers," said Caitlyn Collins, one of the study's authors. "Ultimately, our analyses reveal that gender inequality in parents' work hours has worsened during the pandemic."

The paper noted that this reduction can have long-term negative effects on working mothers' career arcs. It said that future merit-based promotions and pay raises may disproportionately benefit men whose work commitments remained high during the pandemic.

This study is consistent with other findings that show that the 2020 economic crisis is disproportionately affecting women. One paper noted that the industries must affected by the pandemic are those with high female employment, such as restaurants and travel. Recent statistics cited by the Wall Street Journal quantified this impact: From March to June, women's labor force participation dropped by 2.1 percent, compared to men's, which fell by 1.9 percent.