2/22/21 For Moms, the Pandemic Cavalry Is Running Late

The pandemic hit American moms with a double whammy. First, it all but shut down hospitality and service jobs, which are preponderately "manned" by the double-X crowd. Next, moms who still had paying jobs wound up quitting to take care of their children when schools closed -- because traditional gender roles (face it) still exist.

Since last January, 2.5 million women have left the paid labor force, versus 1.7 million men. Today, Democratic women are the most vocal politicians about moms' nightmare.

"To be clear, women are not opting out of the workforce, but rather they are being pushed out by inadequate policies,” said House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) last week. The pandemic also exposed racial disparities, she noted: 90% of child care providers are women and/or people of color who are barely getting by. The $13.5 billion Congress approved for child care in the past year, she said, was not enough to meet their needs.

Republicans see the problem too, but according to The Hill, they see a different source: School closures. Tom Cole (R-OK), in an unsurprising hedge, says that Americans need to reopen schools: "There's no substitute for in-person learning."

Katharine Stevens, a wonk at the American Enterprise Institute, is more blunt. She says, “Studies show that, in fact, the primary crisis working women are now facing is due to school closures, not a lack of child care for children under five."

Whatever. Words about policy fail to capture the fact of the crisis: Women need help NOW. 

"The pandemic is ... a mental health crisis for mothers that fervently needs to be addressed, or at the very least acknowledged," says a perceptively written report in the New York Times in early February. It began when the paper set up a phone line, called it "Primal Scream," and invited women to call in and leave a message of whatever they wanted for up to one minute.  And yes, there were screams.

Remember, this isn't just the burden of women having to bear the company of their own children. It's a financial crisis. The two together are putting moms under a level of stress that nobody should have to suffer. 

But at this point, it looks as though they'll just have to tough it out.


https://thehill.com/policy/finance/539688-democratic-women-sound-alarm-on-female-unemployment?rl=1&fbclid=IwAR1ArLpOoklmh5QT0jFfGgxMYGMJD59SeDwLWyiitz2zI9_8p6INAhUuqN8