Browsers Don’t Lie? Gender Differences in the Effects of the Indian COVID-19 Lockdown on Digital Activity and Time Use

Amalia Miller, Kamalini Ramdas and Alp Sungu

No 31919, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We measure the impact of the initial Indian national COVID-19 lockdown on digital activity using browser histories of 1,094 individuals, spanning over 31.5 million website visits on computers and mobile devices. Reflecting the predicted increase in the value of online activity, both men and women in our sample dramatically increased their internet browsing during the lockdown. However, men’s browsing increased by significantly more, causing gender gaps overall and in key browsing categories, and in browsing on mobile devices. Our browser data showed significant relative reductions in women’s online job search, corroborated in aggregate data obtained from a major Indian online job platform, indicating potentially persistent harms to women’s employment. Consistent with increased childcare obligations driving the observed gender gaps, we find that gaps were greatest among parents. Men and women in our sample had similar browsing levels and trends pre-pandemic, which diverged during the lockdown. Our primary findings therefore shed new light on determinants of digital time use, while also highlighting the importance of considering both extensive and intensive margins of digital activity to track the digital divide. In our secondary analysis of time devoted to childcare, we find conflicting survey responses between fathers (who report an increase relative to mothers) and mothers (who report no such increase). While our data cannot directly resolve this conflict, they do show fathers having larger increases in time spent online, with no relative increase in childcare-related browsing. This secondary result demonstrates the value of complementing survey data with digital trace data.

JEL-codes: I18 J13 J16 J22 J24 K39 O15 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea, nep-ict, nep-lab and nep-pay
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