CHILD CARE
During the COVID-19 pandemic in two-parent households where both parents work, mothers have reduced their work hours four to five times more than fathers to care for children whose schools and day care centers closed.
A comparison in fathers’ and mothers’ work hours before and during the pandemic found the hours-worked gender gap has grown 20-50 percent.
A U.S. Census Household Pulse Survey looked at caretaking responsibilities during the pandemic and found women account for 80 percent of U.S. adults not working because they must care for children whose schools or day care centers are closed.
Studies over decades have shown that women who drop out of the workforce to care for children have difficulty getting back into the workforce and catching up in promotions and lost income. Further, epidemics make existing inequalities worse.
Even in the best of times, childcare is unaffordable for most American families.
The United States has no nationally funded system of child care, unlike most developed nations.
The typical American family spends 25 percent on child care costs, which is twice the average of other countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
In Korea, Austria, Greece, and Hungary couples spend less than 4 percent, thanks to government programs and benefits.
In the South, child care costs more annually for a family than housing, transportation, food, or health care.
Center-based care for infants costs single-parent families 36 percent of household income.
However, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services advises a family that childcare is affordable if the costs account for no more than 7 percent of family income.
The cost of child care is cited by 64 percent of young American adults as the reason they are having fewer children than they wish.
Per-child spending on child care increased 2,000 percent from the 1970s to the 2000s.
The United States almost established a network of nationally funded, locally administered, comprehensive child care centers – back in 1971. The centers were to be open to all on a sliding scale basis. Congress passed the bill on a bipartisan basis, but President Richard M. Nixon used his veto power.
Look up the cost of child care in any state pre-COVID19 via the Economic Policy Institute. Find a detailed examination via Child Care Aware of America.
FAMILY LEAVE
The United States is the only industrialized nation in the world without paid family leave.
On average, mothers are entitled to 17 paid weeks of maternity leave in industrialized nations.
Other comparisons: new mothers get 78 weeks of paid family leave in Estonia, almost 70 weeks in Sweden, and 52 weeks in Denmark.
The United States ranks last among developed nations in providing government support for working parents, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Only 6 states — California, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Washington state — plus the District of Columbia provide paid, publicly funded family and medical leave. The amount of money received depends on one’s earnings.
The only family-friendly policy in the United States is the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993, which offers only unpaid leave and only up to 12 weeks to care for yourself, a child or a family member during a 12-month period. It is restricted to workers in companies with more than 50 employees who work full-time and have been with the firm for more than one year.
As a result, only about half of U.S. workers – and less than 20 percent of new mothers – are covered under the FMLA.
Paid family leave leads to higher overall employment rates. New mothers are more likely to return to work if they have paid leave.
When Google extended paid maternity leave to 18 weeks, the rate at which new mothers left the company fell by 50 percent.