ABSTRACT This article investigates whether changes in women's and men's contributions to household income in Germany and Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic are associated with changes in unpaid work. The current health crisis represents a unique opportunity to explore these topics, because the restrictive measures imposed during the lockdown are likely to have generated an unexpected shock to both domestic work and individual ability to contribute to household income. Using data from two novel datasets collected in Germany and Italy during the pandemic, this article shows that changes to both contribution to household income and unpaid activities during the crisis have been gendered, affecting women more negatively than men. In addition, we suggest that economic disturbances during the pandemic are associated with gendered changes in unpaid work that seem to be driven by changes in bargaining power in both countries. Our results also show some support for enhanced traditionalization of domestic life among German couples during the crisis, as predicted by gender display theories, albeit only regarding childcare.

ABSTRACT In the search for an explanation of wage inequalities between men and women, it is often argued that women's disadvantages on the labour market are the result of their lower investment in human capital. However, this argument loses for at a time when highly educated women are outperforming men in terms of educational attainment. But even within the group of higher education graduates, gender differences remain in the form of gender-typical enrolment in academic subjects. The present article analyses the wage effects of how graduation in typically female subjects and subsequent work in typically female occupations generate wage inequalities 1 and 5 years after graduation. For understanding these effects, it follows the hypothesis of a socio-cultural devaluation of female-dominated subjects and occupations. Based on the 1997 HIS Absolventenpanel , we estimate gross hourly wages of male and female higher education graduates as they enter the German labour market. Results show that, 1 year after graduation, men receive a higher wage penalty than women for graduating in a female-dominated subject. However, working in typically female occupations affects women's wages more strongly than it does men's immediately after graduation. In addition, women have fewer possibilities to compensate for this penalty in subsequent years.