COVID changed the way we think about parenting, caretaking, and work. Now what?
This month, we recognize both Women’s History Month and the two-year mark since COVID-19 first swept across the globe. The pandemic has been a period of incredible upheaval, both at home and at work. It has also revealed just how tenuous the semblance of stability is—especially for working parents.
Now, as mask mandates have lifted and many workplaces are reopening, the question remains: how will this have changed us, our families, and our work?
As people are going back to work in higher numbers (whether in a full in-person, hybrid, or fully remote work environment), we have an opportunity to rethink how employers can best support working parents.
How the pandemic has changed the landscape for working parents
It’s important to note that not all familial caretakers are parents, not all parents balancing caretaking and work are women, and not all mothers also seek to work outside the home. On the whole, though, the full weight of unpaid caretaking often falls disproportionately on women.
The pandemic has only exacerbated this trend.
Throughout the pandemic, women with children were significantly more likely than men with children to leave or lose their jobs. In a May/June 2020 survey, one in four women who became unemployed reported the job loss was due to a lack of childcare—twice the rate of men. Immigrant women, who are more likely to have school-aged children and are overrepresented in low-wage leisure and hospitality jobs compared to their U.S.-born counterparts, hit an 18.5% unemployment rate in May 2020, as leisure and hospitality jobs accounted for one third of U.S. job losses that spring. Six months into the pandemic, the unemployment rate for Black women was nearly double the unemployment rate for white women.
One year into the pandemic, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that over one-third of all mothers living with school-age children in the United States were not working, a staggering 10 million in total. Even for single parents, the numbers are starkly different along gender lines. A Pew analysis showed that single mothers of young children lost jobs at nearly three times the rate of single fathers and other families with children.
In some two-parent, heterosexual families, the pandemic has scrambled traditional gender roles, and dads have chosen to leave their jobs to focus more on supporting their families. Data shows that when childcare is split evenly between different-sex parents, women in these couples have a 15% chance of leaving the workforce or reducing their hours—compared with a 50% chance when burdened with nearly all of the family’s childcare.
Overall, though, the pandemic has widened the gender unemployment gap dramatically. This trend is deeply concerning, especially because those most impacted by job loss—including Black mothers, single mothers, and mothers with no more than a high school education—are among the groups that historically have the hardest time getting back to work.
This trend has continued even as hiring has picked up in recent months. As of March 2022, male workers have regained all the jobs lost since February 2020. Women, on the other hand, are still short about 1.8 million jobs. And while the unemployment rate for white women is around 5%, the numbers are still much higher for women of color: 7.3% for Latinas, 8.7% for Black women, and 5.7% for Asian women.
The struggle is real, especially for working mothers
One of the most common trends we’ve heard at Empower Work, especially throughout the pandemic, is from working moms struggling with the seemingly impossible task of balancing caretaking and work.
For many, their workplaces aren’t supportive of their caretaking priorities outside of work. One texter shared:
"I'm a mother of 2, working FT in a clinic…[I’m] feeling unheard and not able to care for [my] family when needed without being reprimanded."
Other workers feel a shift in support once caretaking becomes more of a priority. One texter reached out after noticing that her boss started treating her differently once she became pregnant:
"The situation with my boss is very unsettling[...] I was on salary and he moved me to hourly and originally was going to give me a couple weeks of paid maternity leave and now has stripped that from me."
For some working parents, the ability to work from home over the past two years has provided crucial flexibility to meet their family’s needs—and they are struggling with the new lack of flexibility as workplaces reinstate in-person requirements. Another texter shared:
"My son has disabilities and goes to a charter school. I have to be ready to pick him up at noon and his school is 30 mins away. I’m a single mother [and] working from home is my best option.”
All of these dynamics can lead to strong feelings of overwhelm, frustration, anger, despair, stress, resignation, and burnout. Even before the pandemic, a quarter of women—including nearly 30% of women of color—reported experiencing burnout at work, compared with just 17% of men. We see this burnout trend even more now, as workers grapple with finding a new balance. Another texter shared:
“I feel like because I've been a CNA [certified nursing assistant] for so long and now have 2 very small children and the only income earner in my household, I can't afford to take a pay cut or have the time to go back to school. I feel like I'm in such a stuck position.”
The good news, though, is that we believe there can be another way.
Rethinking how we support women at work
As more workplaces hire and shift back to in-person work, this is a critical moment of opportunity: we can rethink how we support women both at work and in families.
In particular, it’s important to consider not just short-term pandemic recovery, but also long-term structural changes that can make workplaces more equitable for all.
If you’re someone with positional authority in your organization, whether in HR, as a manager, or in another leadership role, here are a few tangible policies and practices you can start implementing to support parents in your workplace:
Support flexible work policies. Many people have a different relationship with work than they did before the pandemic began, and workers don’t want their personal and familial priorities to be seen as barriers. Many people have also learned—the hard way—that much of their tasks and jobs can, in fact, be done remotely. In order to recruit and retain top talent, workplaces need to adapt to this new normal. Supporting flexible work policies is one way to do this.
Support paid leave. The United States currently has no federal paid leave: only 23% of private industry workers have access to paid family leave, including only 12% of workers in the lowest 25% wage category. As more and more advocates are pushing for federal paid family leave, workplaces have the opportunity to support their employees by supporting paid leave.
Address the gender pay gap. With the current rate of change, we won’t achieve pay equity until 2111, which further exacerbates the struggles of women at work. By ensuring equal pay for all employees—across lines of gender, race, ability, nationality, and more—workplaces can help support workers of all backgrounds, both at work and at home. Start with conducting a pay audit, training managers on implicit bias, and developing transparent frameworks to determine pay.
Support childcare and school systems that meet the needs of working parents. Average childcare costs in all 50 states exceed the federal definition of affordability, and school schedules rarely match traditional work schedules. Advocating for more affordable childcare will create more opportunities for working parents of all genders to manage the balance.
None of these are quick fixes, but they’re all necessary parts of building more equitable workplaces, and supporting the priorities of a post-pandemic workforce.
Advocate for your own needs
In the meantime, if you’re struggling with balancing caretaking and work—and the stressful mix of emotions that can come with it—there are resources to help.
The National Women’s Law Center provides a library of searchable workplace resources on a wide range of topics related to women’s employment.
The National Partnership for Women and Families supports efforts for paid family and medical leave, equal pay, prevention of sexual harassment, fairness for pregnant workers, paid sick days, and fair scheduling.
Path Forward empowers people to restart their careers after time spent focused on caregiving.
Nine states offer paid family medical leave. See if your state is one of them.
Chatting with an Empower Work peer counselor can also help you identify what’s at stake, how it’s impacting you, and what you can do to take a step forward. We’re just a text away: 510-674-1414.
Need support balancing work and caretaking right now?
*Note: Empower Work provides non-legal support for workplace challenges. This information, while authoritative, is not legal advice or guaranteed for legality. Employment laws and regulations vary by state. We recommend consulting with state resources for specific interpretation and decisions. If you believe you were discriminated against in violation of the law, we recommend you seek legal advice.
