It’s no secret that the pandemic has been catastrophic for women. Since March 2020, women have shouldered millions of job losses, increased child care duties and an even more disproportionate share of the labor at home. By January 2021, 2.3 million women had left the U.S. workforce, dropping women’s overall participation in the workforce to a 33-year low. As the economy recovers and pandemic restrictions are lifted, women still face major hurdles at work and at home, and it may take years to recover.
In August, women gained 28,000 new jobs, or fewer than 12% of total employment gains, while men gained 207,000 jobs, based on National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) calculations using Bureau of Labor Statistics. At that rate, the NWLC estimates it could take nine years for women to regain all of the jobs lost during the pandemic. Women’s progress in returning to work has been hampered by a number of problems, including child care shortages and the stress of ongoing pandemic-related struggles.
The National Women’s Law Center estimates it could take nine years for women to regain all of the jobs lost during the pandemic.
In August alone, an estimated 90,000 kids in 19 states were forced to quarantine due to exposure to COVID-19, according to an analysis by The Hill. But it isn’t just COVID-related school closures that are impacting women’s ability to work. A recent report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta warns that ongoing child care shortages are the biggest factor keeping moms with young children out of the workforce.
“This research, along with supporting evidence, suggests that day care limitations, rather than school closings, appear to be a constraining factor on the availability of workers to fill open positions in the current economy,” the report says.
Child care is in crisis
A July survey of 7,500 early childhood educators by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) shows 4 in 5 child care centers in the U.S. are understaffed, resulting in many programs operating at only 71% of their licensed capacity. According to the report, ongoing staff shortages, difficulties recruiting workers, low wages and debt incurred during the pandemic are putting a major strain on providers.
More than 1 in 3 survey respondents says they’re considering leaving or completely shutting down their child care program this year. Minority-owned programs are disproportionately impacted. In fact, more than half of minority-owned child care programs are considering permanent closure.
Women are burned out and fed up
The ongoing stress of the pandemic has taken a toll on women’s mental health, career satisfaction and their plans for the future.
One in three women says they’ve considered downshifting their career or leaving the workforce entirely this year, according to the 2021 Women In The Workplace report by the McKinsey Group and Lean In. That figure represents an increase from 2020, when one in four women said the same. More than 40% of women who participated in the 2021 survey also report feelings of burnout, exhaustion and chronic stress.
The Care.com Workplace Culture and Care report finds 22% of women are less satisfied with their jobs than they were before the pandemic, versus only 18% of men. Female parents, especially, are feeling less satisfied, with 23% of moms with one child and 20% of moms with two or more kids reporting dissatisfaction at work. The biggest factors in their unhappiness? Pay cuts, insufficient benefits and lack of child care and elder care support.
Female parents, especially, are feeling less satisfied, with 23% of moms with one child and 20% of moms with two or more kids reporting dissatisfaction at work. The biggest factors in their unhappiness? Pay cuts, insufficient benefits and lack of child care and elder care support.
THE CARE.COM WORKPLACE CULTURE AND CARE REPORT
New and expectant mothers are also struggling with their mental health and decisions about work. In a new report by Aeroflow Breastpumps, 68% of over 1,000 new moms surveyed report having increased feelings of isolation and poor mental health throughout their pregnancies and postpartum recoveries.
Nearly 38% of new mothers with private insurance and 72% of new mothers on Medicaid report they or their partner lost a source of income due to the pandemic, and nearly 45% of low-income respondents opted not to return to the workforce after maternity leave due to concerns about COVID exposure and the need to care for other children at home.
Where do we go from here?
As you can see from the concerning data on jobs, child care and burned out moms, many of the problems women are facing are systemic and will likely require action from employers and leaders at both the local and federal level. Fortunately, there are several plans and programs in the works to provide some relief.
In states like Maine and Pennsylvania, additional funding has been approved to support struggling child care programs and keep them open. The Biden Administration is also working to get the national Build Back Better plan passed by congress.
The proposed plan includes:
- Provisions for the creation of a free universal Pre-K system.
- A permanent expansion to the Child Tax Credit.
- Assistance for middle- and low-income families to help pay for child care.
- Plans for a comprehensive national paid family and medical leave program.
It will likely take these initial efforts and much more to overcome the enormous impact the pandemic has had on women and especially moms. Employers will also need to get on board with providing women the benefits and support they need to regain their roles.
“The solutions are as blazingly clear as the problem,” the Care.com Workplace Culture and Care report says. “Unless and until the government acts, employers must provide the kind of care infrastructure that’s essential to retaining women in the workforce.”
