Opinion: Child care, paid leave needs threaten female workforce

Heather Zoromski

Last March, I was joyfully expecting baby No. 3 with stars in my eyes thinking about the time off work and baby snuggles that were in my near future. My husband, a financial adviser, had also scheduled time off, and my older two boys were so excited for spring break because they would get to be at home for an entire week with their new baby brother.

Well, we all know what happened next. The world shut down. My husband got approximately one day off work before the market got shaky, and the older kids never went back to school. My dreams of new baby bliss were quickly shattered as instead I found myself homeschooling the older, stir-crazy boys with a newborn in tow, while trying to squelch my own pandemic-related anxiety.

Even with an education, background in public health and the knowledge that a pandemic was inevitable at some point, it still caught me off guard. Pandemics do not happen in the U.S., right? We were in modern-day survival mode, and I was resentful.

While my story is not an uncommon one from the last year, compared to millions of women across the U.S. I was so lucky. I knew my career would be waiting for me, that I have the flexibility to work from home if needed and that both grandmas were at the ready for child care needs. My livelihood was never jeopardized, and yet, unfortunately, for too many women, this was not the case.

As the COVID-19 pandemic changed the way work and life intersect, women have disproportionally been negatively impacted as they have been forced to juggle roles as essential workers, mothers and caregivers. Instead of a recession, economists have dubbed the past year a “she-cession” and report that almost all women’s gains in the workforce over the last decade have nearly been wiped out, that female workforce participation has dropped to the lowest level since 1988 at 57%, according to the National Women’s Law Center, and that the gap in disparities further widens when considering the impact on women of color. In total, 2.4 million women in the U.S. have left the workforce over the last year, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, and a CNBC/Survey Monkey poll found 65% considered quitting their jobs because balancing work and home life was impossible.

Several themes emerged as reasons for leaving jobs and careers, but two main themes include day care/school closures and disparities in paid leave, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Over the last year, the Bipartisan Policy Center finds only 32% of families had someone in their household able to care for their children and 24% of workers were without a single day of paid leave, according to the BLS. These burdens primarily fall on women, who take on a majority of child care responsibilities and may have to take unpaid leave as a result.

Over the last year, regardless of income bracket, families have faced significant challenges with child care availability. As 30% of day cares and schools remain closed, costs of available care soar and those that are open may be operating at limited capacity, this is and will remain a huge issue. Child Care Aware of America estimates that $50 billion is needed for child care recovery efforts and that without it, the women’s workforce may never totally recover.

Also threatening the  women’s workforce  is a lack of paid leave policy. According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, the U.S. is the only wealthy country that does not guarantee paid leave or paid sick days. And while S&P Global Inc. finds 37% of workplaces implemented flexible work and paid time off policies in response to the pandemic, access varied by income and education level, and in some cases, it is unclear if those policies will remain post pandemic.

The cost to implement workplace policy to aid with child care access, as well as flexible or paid leave may seem costly. However, it is also costly to do nothing. Long-term impacts include a decrease in the talent pipeline of women, a decrease in overall career earnings for women, and a negative impact on the economy as the McKinsey Global Institute estimates that the global gross domestic product could be $1 trillion lower in 2030 if we do not make up any ground in women’s unemployment rates.

By addressing these issues, we can limit the severity of economic damage and provide a clear path back for women to reenter the workforce.

Heather Zoromski is executive director of the Darr Family Foundation. She also teaches adjunct for Evangel University in the College of Business and the College of Adult and Graduate Studies. She can be reached at heather@darrff.org.