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The abject failure of our government to adequately respond to this pandemic has set working mothers back a generation. And that's bad for children, for workers, for families, and every single woman in the workforce. https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/07/opinions/covid-has-been-a-terrible-setback-for-mothers-who-work-filipovic/index.html
When women drop out of the workforce -- or are pushed out, as is often the case -- they take an earnings hit from which they typically never recover.
They wind up with less in retirement. Their families end up poorer. They become immediately vulnerable, sometimes dependent on a male partner for money, housing, food, and stability. They are less able to leave a relationship for any reason, including if it becomes violent.
If the employed partner leaves the marriage, becomes incapacitated, or dies, the unemployed partner may suddenly find themselves totally screwed. This is one reason why after divorce, men's earnings increase, while divorced women are 3x times as likely as them to live in poverty.
The norm of fathers working while their wives stay home is also bad for all women in the workforce. For one thing, it solidifies the sexist idea that women are less reliable employees, and that investing in mentoring and promoting women may be for naught.
Men whose wives don't work tend to be more sexist bosses who are more likely to have negative perceptions of working women and deny women promotions. Sons of stay-at-home moms grow up to be more sexist husbands who do less to care for family members than sons of working moms.
Women dropping out of the workforce is bad for women, bad for families, and bad for society. But right now, mothers are stuck choosing between all bad options, because our dangerous president and useless Congress have given parents no other choice than to figure it out themselves
