How COVID-19 could imperil working mothers’ financial security

Businesses across the U.S. are gradually reopening, but a recession is now official. And studies suggest working mothers could be among its worst-hit victims, thanks to household inequalities and a child care crisis.

With many schools and child care facilities still closed, summer camps canceled and grandparents at risk of contracting COVID-19, plenty of parents appear set to be working from home with their kids for a while longer.

That poses a particularly big problem for working mothers, who are still disproportionately responsible for house work and child care, according to a May report from the National Women’s Law Center. It says women — and particularly women of color — hold the majority of health care, child care and other jobs now deemed both essential and dangerous amid a pandemic.

No child care, no job

The outbreak could also exacerbate existing inequalities surrounding male and female family responsibilities, potentially setting working women back as their careers or promotions prospects fizzle out while they put out more urgent fires at home. That can also result in disparities at work, as childless colleagues can put in more hours and be more productive while parents are distracted.

Faced with impossible ultimatums, some mothers are even quitting their jobs, while child care businesses starved of revenue could end up permanently shutting down.

Pay and career inequities

Women are more likely than men to have been laid off during the pandemic, and more likely to have low-wage jobs that don’t come with the benefits they’ll need to weather a crisis, according to the National Women’s Law Center report, which said the majority of restaurant, retail and hotel staff are female.

And thanks to the gender wage gap, full-time working mothers tend to get 70 cents for every dollar that working fathers get, which the study says represents a $18,000 difference every year. Registered nurses who are mothers are paid on average $31.25 per hour, according to the study, while registered nurses who are fathers receive $36.06. Likewise, mothers working cashier jobs make roughly $11.54 per hour, yet fathers in the same role make about $16.11.

Those numbers worsen once they’re broken down by race, revealing that black mothers receive roughly 50 cents of every dollar paid to a white father, while Native American mothers get 47 cents and Latina mothers get 45 cents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2018 American Community Survey.

That means the post-COVID-19 economic fallout could be even more severe for mothers, according to the report, which says, “This difference in wages results in an annual loss that could be devastating for mothers and their families that were already struggling to make ends meet before the public health crisis.”

Pandemics worsen inequalities

A March United Nations brief on how COVID-19 has affected women shares a similar sentiment, noting that women make up 70% of the health and social sector workforce and that “pandemics make existing gender equalities for women even worse.”

The “disproportionate negative effect on women and their employment opportunities” will outlast the pandemic, according to economic research from the Centre for Economic Policy Research, which found single mothers will be worst affected.

Hope for the future

But it’s not all bad. That study highlighted ways that COVID-19 could actually decrease gender inequalities in the workforce over time, by shifting social norms and expectations around childcare and causing employers to be more flexible, understanding and responsive to parents’ needs.

HR leaders will likely play a key role in finding solutions. This working parent support guide is aimed at helping employers with small and medium companies support working parents and caregivers, and it suggests reimbursing staff for childcare costs where possible.

It’s a problem some tech startups have made it their mission to fix. Among them: Leg Up, which has launched free technology aimed at helping parents find full-time childcare providers and enrichment programs, and Madrona Venture Labs, which has launched Weekdays, for people looking to start a daycare or after-school program from their home.