The COVID-19 pandemic exposed and exacerbated existing gender inequalities particularly affecting the lives of women and girls across the globe (1, 2). In South Africa, the pandemic intensified the unequal distribution of unpaid domestic work, increased the incidence of gender-based violence, and placed a disproportionate mental and emotional burden on women (2). These impacts intersect with efforts to promote gender equality, especially those outlined in the United Nations Development Goal 5 (SDG 5) which is dedicated to achieving “gender equity and empower all women and girls” [(3): 14&18].

In Limpopo Province, the COVID-19 pandemic posed significant health and socio-economic challenges, exacerbated by the region's predominantly rural character, limited healthcare infrastructure, and high poverty rates (4). During the national lockdowns, Limpopo experienced mobility restrictions, temporary school closures, and disrupted service delivery, further straining economically vulnerable households (5). The provincial government, in line with national directives, implemented public health measures including mandatory mask-wearing, social distancing, and the distribution of relief grants to vulnerable populations (6). However, access to healthcare and mental health services remained limited in remote areas, heightening the impact of the pandemic on women and girls, who often bear the burden of caregiving, food provision, and household responsibilities (7).

Fisseha et al. (8) realises that the impact of COVID-19 went beyond the disease itself. In fact, Ronnie et al. (9) is of the view that it was a time of great stress, while Chauhan (10) contents that the environment surrounding COVID-19 is not gender neutral. Some of the impacts observed for women (8) include the increased burden of unpaid labour, scaled up gender-based violence in the households, and under-age marriages. Orellana et al. (11) adds that household food-related tasks like shopping and cooking became increased as there was a need to plan for such an activity. Such impacts led to additional mental health suffering (8), limited access to sexual and reproductive health services, as well as reduced employment opportunities and incomes. Drawing lessons from the USA, Liu and Gan (12) discover that unprecedented closures of large-scale childcare facilities resulted in dramatic increases in the burden of childcare at home. This challenge was also disproportionately addressed by women more than men (13), although this gendered effect was only reflected among parents with lower educational attainments and family incomes (12).

Tracking the housework re-allocation between gender and generations during the pandemic lockdowns in China, Wang (14) analysed 1,669 respondents from a survey, and 100 interviews. The research sought to examine changes in domestic labour patterns and the underlying reasons using homebound and job-free individuals whose employment status remained constant. The results show that men increase their uptake in grocery shopping, but reduce their cooking, cleaning, and laundry roles. The reasons given for these changes converged around the “doing gender” theory. Women in full-time employment ended up with more time to perform household chores, not to say their male counterparts did not have time on their hands. The findings challenge the notion that economic factors are the dominant drivers of the gender-based division of housework. Instead, the traditional ingrained gender norms that provided the continued framework that determined domestic roles remain. Household food-related tasks were also chosen by Orellana et al. (11) as deliberated earlier.

Expanding on mental health matters, and drawing from South Africa, Kopylova et al. (15) highlights that a significant proportion of women were already experiencing symptoms of depression prior to the onset of COVID-19, particularly those facing socio-economic hardship, unemployment, or caregiving burdens. Their findings point to an alarming pre-pandemic mental health baseline, which was further exacerbated by the pandemic's social and economic disruptions. While the study focused on national trends, these issues are particularly relevant to provinces like Limpopo, where high poverty rates, limited access to healthcare (4, 5), and rural isolation compound existing vulnerabilities. In Limpopo, women are often primary caregivers and are more likely to experience food insecurity and limited psychosocial support, increasing their susceptibility to depression and anxiety during crisis periods. Social isolation measures, including prolonged lockdowns and school closures have been linked to heightened psychological distress, especially among caregivers tasked with childcare under constrained household conditions (16). Evidence also suggests that living in a food-insecure household or caring for dependents for extended hours sometimes between 13 and 24 h a day, may increase the risk of mental health challenges, including anxiety and depression (17). Conversely, access to social protection mechanisms, such as government grants, and adherence to public health measures like mask-wearing, have been associated with reduced psychological strain during the pandemic (18).

Building on these perspectives, this study examines how COVID-19 lockdowns affected women's and girls’ household responsibilities in the Limpopo province of South Africa. Three objectives are outlined as follows: (1) To evaluate perceptions of how time was spent by women at home during COVID-19 lockdowns from their own point of view, (2) To determine male perspectives on how women spent their time at home during COVID-19 lockdowns, (3) To establish whether age and other socio-economic parameters played a role in responsibilities and time spent in the house by women during COVID-19 lockdowns. This work brings additional value to the body of literature broadly but, more specifically, to work pitched at municipal and household level in South Africa. The findings remain valuable in informing the current and future policy related to reducing pandemic and disaster risk.

This section presents the relevant literature associated with women's household responsibilities during COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. It also focuses on highlighting potential pressure points including the role played by water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). Perspectives on teen pregnancies and school dropouts are also discussed. While further details will be unravelled in the following sub-sections, Haney and Barber (19) remind us that “For many years, scholars have directed our attention to the gender gap in domestic labour. Even when women engage in paid employment, they nevertheless perform the majority of the household labour in most wealthy countries”.

Research is generally informed by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 AfSD) and its 17 interwoven SDGs and Paramita et al. (26) broader conceptualisation of gender that goes beyond binary biological sex. Drawing the 2030 AfSD (3), of particular importance were SDG 5 (Gender), SDG 4 (quality Education) and SDG 6 (Water and Sanitation). With this in mind, the paper sought to investigates the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on women and the girl child's roles and responsibilities at the household level in South Africa's Limpopo Province. The focus was on two local municipalities that are part of the Capricorn District Municipality, namely: Molemole and Polokwane (Figure 1). These municipalities were purposefully selected based on guidance from the Limpopo Provincial Government to capture both urban and rural dynamics within the province. Polokwane, as the provincial capital, represents a more urbanised and economically active setting, whereas Molemole reflects a predominantly rural context with limited access to basic services. This diversity allowed the study to assess the differentiated impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns across contrasting socio-economic environments.

To continue with the research, an ethics clearance was granted by the Limpopo Provincial Research Ethics Committee on July 20, 2022, for Research Project No. LPREC/35/2022. The Limpopo Provincial Research Ethics Committee (LPREC) was registered with the National Health Research Council (NHREC) Registration Number REC-111513-038. Two surveys were also pitched. These included a household survey and a complementary teacher survey. Survey instruments were developed through a consultative process involving gender studies experts, local educators, and community representatives. Questions were informed by existing literature on gender roles, COVID-19 impacts, and household dynamics, as well as previously validated instruments such as the UNICEF COVID-19 Rapid Assessment tool (27), which were adapted for the local context. Both surveys were reviewed by three independent subject matter experts to ensure content validity, assessing relevance, cultural appropriateness, and clarity. An internal consistency was measured using Cronbach's alpha. Acceptable values above 0.7 confirmed sufficient internal reliability.

Internal reliability was further assessed for the main multi-item constructs included in the household and teacher survey instruments. Cronbach's alpha values above 0.7 were recorded across all constructs, confirming adequate internal consistency. Specifically, three sets of scales were tested: (1) a household responsibilities scale comprising items on time allocation to various domestic activities such as food preparation, childcare, household chores, and emotional support, each measured using a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = decreased drastically to 5 = increased drastically; (2) a WASH service reliability scale that captured perceptions of water adequacy, source reliability, and sanitation access, measured on a four-point Likert scale (1 = very unreliable to 4 = very reliable); and (3) a gendered division of labour perception scale assessing agreement with statements regarding men's and women's roles in household tasks, rated on a five-point agreement scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). The Cronbach's alpha coefficients for these scales ranged from 0.71 to 0.84, confirming acceptable levels of reliability for all constructs used in the study.

A census sampling approach was used, targeting all accessible households and public schools within the identified wards of both municipalities. The goal was to include the entire available population within each targeted area, thereby maximising coverage and minimizing sampling bias. For the household survey, the inclusion criteria specified adults aged 18 years and older residing in the household at the time of the survey. Questions specific to the perceived experiences of women during the COVID-19 pandemic were included in the survey, as the study focused on gendered impacts. The inclusion criteria required participants to be residents of the selected local municipalities and aged 18 or older. While women were the primary respondents for questions related to gendered experiences, if no adult woman was available or willing to participate, any other adult household member knowledgeable about household dynamics was interviewed. Households were excluded if no adult respondent was present or if residents declined participation.

This approach resulted in 4,571 completed household surveys and 226 teacher surveys conducted between October 2022 and March 2023. While the sample may not be statistically representative of the broader Limpopo Province or the entire Capricorn District, it is reflective of the population structures within the selected wards. Demographic characteristics of the respondents were compared with the 2016 South African Community Survey and the 2022 mid-year estimates from Statistics South Africa. These comparisons confirmed general alignment with local population trends, including household composition, age distribution, employment status, and gender, although there was a slight overrepresentation of female-headed households, likely a result of the study's focus on gendered roles during the pandemic. Despite the high response rate (approximately 99.9%), the study acknowledges the potential for non-response bias and sampling errors. Certain households may have been unavailable or unwilling to participate, and this could have introduced minor biases related to household characteristics such as income, gender composition, or access to services. Efforts were made to minimize this through multiple revisits and the use of local enumerators familiar with the communities.

The household survey included sections on household demographics, water access, sanitation, education disruptions, and the gendered division of labour during lockdowns. The teacher survey focused on perceptions of learners’ well-being, educational setbacks, and observed shifts in gendered responsibilities among students. The surveys were uploaded to the QuestionPro platform, a facility that permits both on and offline administering of surveys. This was critical as the Limpopo province is known to be predominantly rural (28) with challenges internet connectivity.

Descriptive summary statistics were generated to determine the characteristics of the sample, with counts and percentages reported. To test bivariate associations, the study employed a One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to examine if there were any noteworthy differences among age groups and household sizes concerning the time women spent on various responsibilities during the lockdown. Before conducting the ANOVA, we assessed the assumptions associated with this statistical test to ensure the appropriateness of the data. Specifically, normality and homogeneity of the data were examined using the Shapiro–Wilk test and Levene's test, respectively. The data exhibited mild violations of normality and homogeneity. However, since these violations were not significant, we proceeded with the one-way ANOVA test. To identify age groups and household sizes with significant differences, we employed the Tukey HSD post-hoc test, reporting unadjusted p < 0.05 values. All analyses were performed using JMP Pro SAS for Windows, version 16.2.0.

The findings are presented in four sub-sections. The sub-sections include general demographics of the responding women, potential pressure points from lack of basis services like WASH, plight of the girl child, and the impact of COVID-19 on women at home. Each of these sub-sections will now be considered in turn.

Findings from the survey show that the COVID-19 lockdown period was associated with changes in women's daily responsibilities, highlighting longstanding gender disparities in unpaid care and domestic work. The first edition of the South Africa COVID-19 Country Report (2021) highlights the significant gendered impact of the pandemic, with the term women appearing over 400 times and girl(s) 21 times (28). An entire chapter is dedicated to gender equality issues arising from the pandemic, revealing a disturbing trend of increased burden and trauma for girls. The report points to a higher incidence of COVID-19 infections and hospitalisations among girls aged 15–18, potentially linked to their disproportionate involvement in care responsibilities at home.

Our study found marked increases in women's time spent on household chores, meal preparation, childcare, and homeschooling during lockdown. In contrast, caring for the sick and engaging in work-related activities did not show similar increases. Age-specific analysis revealed that women aged 60 and above consistently spent more time on household duties, emphasizing the need for age-responsive policies that account for the differing capacities and roles of women across the life course. Additionally, time allocation varied with household size, highlighting the importance of context-sensitive approaches in policy design. Comparable findings have been reported elsewhere. For example, Chauhan (10) observed a stark gender divide in unpaid domestic work in India, with no men represented in the highest time-use categories. Approximately 5% of women spent 22–28 h per week on household chores (compares to 0% of men), 12.3% spent 29–49 h (vs. 2.3% of men), and nearly 9% of women reported spending over 50 h per week, a time commitment not reported by any male participant. These patterns were echoed in other countries: Hjálmsdóttir and Bjarnadóttir (32) describe how Icelandic women bore the brunt of social and emotional labour during the pandemic, while Rania et al. (33) observed in Italy how women, particularly mothers, shouldered the burden of reconfiguring shared living spaces and maintaining emotional support in quarantine scenarios. This emotional labour was often unreciprocated, even as women themselves required support, as Philpot et al. (34) documented in the United States.

In Limpopo province, meal planning and preparation were ranked second among women's increased responsibilities during lockdowns. Snuggs and McGregor (35) in a UK-based study, found that lockdowns impacted food choices and availability, requiring considerable time investment in logistics. Participants placed increased importance on health, weight control, and mood when selecting food, far above considerations like familiarity. Childcare and baby minding responsibilities also fell heavily on women. While Fodor et al. (36) found in Hungary that men increased their childcare contributions by 35 his was proportionally less impactful, as women already bore the majority of childcare responsibilities before the pandemic. In absolute terms, women's increased unpaid care work far outpaced men's, particularly among educated, middle-class urban women. The National Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (28) also reported that despite lockdowns providing more time for men to be with their children, caregiving remained primarily a female duty.

Homeschooling introduced another layer of stress, especially for women. With schools closed and online platforms unfamiliar to many, women often in dual roles as breadwinners and caregivers were overwhelmed. This is particularly relevant for the present study, where 60.85% of respondents came from female-headed households. Similar challenges were reported in Poland (37), where parents, particularly mothers, felt unequipped to homeschool and experienced heightened anxiety about their children's futures. In some cases, homeschooling led to work-family conflicts, with increased homeschooling hours among women correlating with higher alcohol consumption among couples.

The issue of unwanted pregnancies also warrants attention. Although approximately 75% of respondents reported no incidents, the associations observed with extended lockdown periods, idle time, and limited access to family-planning supplies indicate areas requiring policy attention. Our study indicates that 38.5% of teachers reported observing learner pregnancies during the pandemic period. In Gauteng, the number of births among girls under 18 rose by 60% between April 2020 and March 2021, with more than 23,000 girls under 18 years, 934 of them under 14 years giving birth (38). Barron et al. (39) similarly found that rural provinces such as Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and Eastern Cape experienced higher rates of teenage pregnancy than more urban areas. This trend is consistent with findings from Ghana, where Mohammed (40) noted increases in child marriage linked to poverty and school closures. Some girls expressed a desire to marry, citing household chores as overwhelming. Phukula et al. (41) confirmed that such patterns were not isolated, with similar trends emerging in Botswana and other parts of the world.

An increase in reported orphanhood (39.4% of teachers noting high to very high growth during the pandemic) indicate the need for strengthened social welfare responses. Policymakers should focus on aiding families facing this situation, ensuring the well-being and support of orphaned children (42, 43). Another concerning issue is the reported increase in school dropouts, particularly among girls, poses challenges to achieving Sustainable Development Goals 4 and 5. SDG 4 aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all, with Target 4.1 seeking full completion of primary and secondary education by 2030 [ (3): 14]. School dropouts often went hand-in-hand with child marriage and its associated consequences (40).

Access to clean water also emerged as a critical issue. Respondents’ reports of unreliable water sources highlight constraints that may have limited households’ ability to comply fully with WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) -related COVID-19 prevention measures (44, 45). Despite global emphasis on hygiene, many informal settlements in the global South lacked adequate WASH infrastructure. Howard et al. (46) noted that hygiene became central in the pandemic response, but billions lacked piped water access. Mieth et al. (47) documented the behavioural shift to frequent handwashing, corroborated by Lin et al. (51) who found that online searches for “wash hands” were associated with slower spread of the virus, unlike “face mask,” which showed no such correlation. In South Africa, the National Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation [ (28): 304] acknowledged that WASH challenges existed even before COVID-19 but were greatly exacerbated by the pandemic. In 2019, about 12% of the population lacked access to a basic water supply, and 21.3% had no access to basic sanitation. These figures likely underrepresent the challenges in rural provinces like Limpopo. Media footage during the pandemic often showed women and girls as the primary collectors of water from tanks and delivery tankers, highlighting how the pandemic period represented a dual challenge for the girl child, that was marked both by heightened health risks and by widening gender inequalities.

Our investigation into potential pressure points affecting women's roles and responsibilities at the household level amidst the COVID-19 pandemic revealed critical concerns. The central focus on Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) highlighted a reliance on community tap water supplied by the municipality, although a notable proportion faced challenges with unreliable water sources. The impact on the girl child was pronounced, with varying opinions on whether women and girls disproportionately bore the pandemic's burdens, manifested in disruptions to education, reported school dropouts, and concerns about unwanted pregnancies. Living with individuals with comorbidities posed challenges, accentuated by the heightened risk of severe outcomes, while the increase in orphans within households added complexity. Survey results revealed significant shifts in women's time allocation during the pandemic period, particularly for those aged 60 and above, emphasizing the influential role of age in shaping household responsibilities. Addressing these multifaceted issues is imperative for informed policy interventions that support the resilience and well-being of women and vulnerable populations during health crises. The findings suggest that the pandemic period may have slowed progress toward achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 SDGs. Specific SDGs to note include SDG 3 (Health and Wellbeing), SDG 4 (Quality Education), and SDG 5 (Gender Equality).

These findings hold crucial policy implications. Ensuring reliable and accessible WASH services is imperative for household resilience during health crises. Addressing the vulnerability of the girl child in education and health services requires targeted interventions. Additionally, the high incidence of learner pregnancies in schools emphasizes the need for comprehensive sexual education programs. Efforts to maintain access to family planning resources should be prioritized to mitigate unintended pregnancies. Support systems for households with comorbidities and orphans are essential. Policies should strengthen WASH infrastructure, sustain education continuity, and ensure access to reproductive health services. Social and emotional support systems need enhancement, especially for households dealing with comorbidities and orphans. Additionally, age-sensitive policies should be devised, recognizing the unique challenges faced by older women.