With No Child Care or Summer Camps, Women are Being Edged out of the Workforce

Women are being edged out of the workforce, not only because their jobs, mostly concentrated in service industries, are particularly vulnerable in the coronavirus economy; but also because there is another threat to women’s paid labor that can be harder to see. With kids at home, and families forced to take on significantly more domestic labor, women are opting out of the workforce.

Most schools have been closed since the middle of March in the U.S., as well as many daycares. Parents are spending more time and energy on taking care of their kids. However, in most heterosexual families, it’s often the woman who quits her career and cares for the children at home, rather than the man.

There are two main reasons why women are almost always the ones to quit jobs:

• Firstly, it’s a better financial choice for most families. Couples all over the country are probably making similar calculations: when they’re deciding who should scale back at work, they’ll compare their salaries, and choose the one whose salary is lower. In the U.S., women earn 81% of what men earn on average. (The wage gap is far greater for many women of color). Therefore, when only one parent is supposed to continue work, it must be the one who earns more, so as to maximally afford the family expense.
• Secondly, women are always under the pressure of “being a good mom”. Women typically pay more attention to family affairs and children’s education than men. During coronavirus, with no school and no after-school activities, women feel more responsible for educating their kids and enriching their lives. This is especially true as more women are exposed to social media where many moms share their experience teaching their kids. Competition of education is shifting from school to home, so there is a “new Olympics” for being the perfect mom. No woman wants to be left behind.

Many women plan to go back to work once schools and daycare centers reopen, but it might not be that easy. For starters, women are less likely to be re-employed. Workforce changes quickly and requires new skills, which may make it hard for women to catch up after staying at home for a while. Mother-tag is also a limiting factor for women’s careers from the perspective of many employers. They consider women with kids are not able to function at full capacity, so they don’t always like to take the risk in hiring moms particularly in the economic crisis right now. What’s more, women may actively choose not to go back to work when all is over. Many of them enjoy focusing on their kids and don't want to miss out on their children growing up. Instead of sending their children to childcare, where health may be a risk factor, they might prefer to accompany their kids by themselves.

Read the full article from The Lily