Remote Work, Time Use, and Gender Norms

Last registered on March 22, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Remote Work, Time Use, and Gender Norms
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0015316
Initial registration date
February 07, 2025

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
February 12, 2025, 10:04 AM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
March 22, 2026, 6:02 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
Netherlands
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Elena Stancanelli
Affiliation
Paris School of Economics
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Arthur Van Soest
PI Affiliation
Econometrics Department, Tilburg University, the Netherlands
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Andreas Kotsadam
PI Affiliation
Oslo Frisch Center
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Mette [email protected]
PI Affiliation
Oslo MET (Oslo Metropolitan University)
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Nicolas Moreau
PI Affiliation
University Saint Denis La Reunion
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2025-03-15
End date
2025-12-31
Keywords
Behavior, Gender, Labor
Additional Keywords
Unpaid Household Work, Household Chores, Work from Home, Gender Norms
JEL code(s)
J22 Time Allocation and Labor Supply; J16 Economics of Gender; D1 Household Behavior and Family Economics;
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Following the Covid-19 pandemics, with its lockdowns, school closures, and distancing measures, Work from Home (WfH) has fast developed and is predicted to remain widespread in the future labour markets. This has profound and long-lasting implications for household daily life and inequality within and across households, which have not yet been fully grasped. While many jobs cannot be performed at home, WfH may provide implicit incentives (by its location, at home) for men to do more unpaid household work and childcare. On the other hand, it may create a “triple” burden for women, as the location of paid work at home may further add to the “double-burden” of women, working for pay and also performing most unpaid family tasks. Gender norms may come into play. The gender gap in unpaid household work and care is stubbornly persistent over time. Our study is designed to gather observational evidence on these issues.
External Link(s)
Our study will be run as a supplementary survey of the LISS (Longitudinal Internet studies for the Social Sciences), run at Tilburg University, in the Netherlands.
The French Nartional Research Agency funded our study as project ANR-24-CE41-5106.

Registration Citation

Citation
Kotsadam, Andreas et al. 2026. "Remote Work, Time Use, and Gender Norms." AEA RCT Registry. March 22. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15316-2.4
Sponsors & Partners

Sponsors

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We have designed an online survey with a randomised intervention to capture the relation between work from home and individual daily life.
Intervention (Hidden)
We are going to implement a Vignette Study on Work from Home and Household Chores. This will be implemented as a supplementary online survey by the LISS, and disseminated to a representative sample of the Dutch population. Our survey will be run as an online survey and will include:
_ a short questionnaire on individual socio-demographics, Work from Home experiences and preferences, and daily time uses.
_a Vignette module on WfH and household chores and care, which includes 4 Vignettes. The main character in the Vignette is randomly assigned to be a woman or a man. The Vignette module is randomly assigned to respondents.
We will not have access to participants personal information, such as their names or geolocation. The LISS will only release us the anonymized answers, in compliance with standard GDPR rules. There are no sensitivity issues related to our data collection.
Intervention Start Date
2025-03-15
Intervention End Date
2025-05-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Attitudes and preferences for Work from Home, Household Chores, Childcare, Multitasking.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Work from Home may provide implicit incentives (by its location, at home) for men to do more unpaid household work and childcare. On the other hand, it may create a “triple” burden for women, as the location of paid work at home may further add to the “double-burden” of women, working for pay and also performing most unpaid family tasks. Gender norms may come into play here, as they drive the gender gap in unpaid household work and care which is stubbornly persistent over time. Our study is designed to gather observational evidence on these issues.
Experimental Design Details
The Vignette study is designed to capture whether survey respondents associate WfH with household chores more often for women than for men. It also tests for whether responses vary for daily life versus an emergency situation (eg a sick child) and/or for masculine versus feminine chores.
Randomization Method
Randomization is done by the LISS survey programmers. The LISS is the Longitudinal Survey for Social Sciences run at Tilburg University. They regularly collect survey modules and implement additional supplement like this one, following standard GDPR procedures.
Randomization Unit
The online LISS survey is addressed to individuals. The randomization is done at the individual level.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
LISS Sample representative of the Dutch population, and we restrict respondents age to 20-70. The online LISS survey is expected to reach about 3,500-4,000 respondents.
Sample size: planned number of observations
The online LISS survey is expected to reach about 3,500-4,000 respondents.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
LISS Sample is representative of the Dutch population, and we restrict respondents age to 20-70. The online LISS survey is expected to reach about 3,500-4,000 respondents.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Anything below ten per cent two-sided statical significance level will be interpreted as a non-significant effect. The answers to the Vignette module are based on a Likert scale, with six points/possible answers ( from certainly agrees to absolutely disagrees). For the analysis, we may use the Likert scale as a continuous variable, but also aggregate the negative/positive replies and create dummy variables 0,1. We will use regression analysis, including and excluding controls for individual socio-characteristics and family composition, main activity, gender. We will also control for WfH and time uses in some of the regressions (heterogeneity, robustness checks). We will include all the results in the study, along with the p-values. Anything below ten per cent two-sided statical significance level will be interpreted as a non-significant effect.
Supporting Documents and Materials

Documents

Document Name
Survey questions in Dutch
Document Type
survey_instrument
Document Description
The survey and Vignettes will be disseminated in Dutch, which is the language spoken in the Netherlands, where the LISS is run.
File
Survey questions in Dutch

MD5: 7e2e5ab2289e75062b6ed63af439825d

SHA1: 8f6997818147525e43d325b69051a5a70bee955c

Uploaded At: February 21, 2025

Document Name
Vignettes in English
Document Type
survey_instrument
Document Description
The Vignettes survey will be disseminated after the questions in the same online supplementary survey to the respondents of the LISS.
File
Vignettes in English

MD5: 1950b4b44120b90a5faf586bafce9fdc

SHA1: c04ca3154824ee9c774a98072f86e676517955f2

Uploaded At: February 21, 2025

Document Name
Survey questions in English
Document Type
survey_instrument
Document Description
This survey will be disseminated as an online supplementary survey to the respondents of the LISS, which are a representative sample of the Dutch population.
We will not have access to respondents' names or geolocation.
The LISS will give us the anonymised answers to the survey.
The LlSS will also manage the data and make them available to other researchers one year after the end of our survey data collection.
The LISS is an established survey which is run at Tilburg University, in the Netherlands.
Any researchers can apply to the LISS asking them to run supplementary surveys like we did.
File
Survey questions in English

MD5: 43879fc1a74c533478ad2e19a93ec61f

SHA1: 50f742f9fc85810fa684573f445e46efb0c43d02

Uploaded At: February 21, 2025

Document Name
Vignettes in Dutch
Document Type
survey_instrument
Document Description
File
Vignettes in Dutch

MD5: d847c0fa6a27ac37d79bf963a454e1e2

SHA1: 3d508eb82b24c0780b17f0d29618eab04cee084e

Uploaded At: February 21, 2025

IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Paris School of Economics
IRB Approval Date
2025-02-11
IRB Approval Number
2025-007
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Analysis Plan

MD5: 35f01cbfc3e187c9d31eb213c2f548a8

SHA1: 2bd2a7157b7be7ce8602a75bb7493897566115a1

Uploaded At: February 07, 2025

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
Yes
Public Data URL
https://www.lissdata.nl/

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Program Files

Program Files
No
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials