This Mother’s day I want to reflect on what I learned so far through my work with the @UAS_CESR data on the situation of mothers during this pandemic: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11150-020-09534-7

Mothers have been hit hard during this pandemic doing a bulk of the childcare even while still working. Among married or living together couples, in April 2020, 33% of working mothers were the sole providers of childcare in the household as compared with 10% of working fathers

The situation did not improve much for mothers in the fall. 45% of working moms declared being the sole provider vs. 9% of dads, despite working status and despite the mode of learning for their school-age children. https://dornsife.usc.edu/news/stories/3374/covid-19-pandemic-gender-disparity-study-revisited/

If anything, it appears mothers took increased childcare responsibilities in the fall

These childcare arrangements are then associated with a reduction of working hours and lower levels of employment attachment. Our latest preliminary results suggest that a lack of school re-openings in the fall might have made it harder for parents to recover from employment loss

Mothers also suffered the highest levels of psychological distress during this pandemic. The gender gap in psychological distress among parents is larger than among non-parents, and it remains at the similar levels as at the beginning of the pandemic

So this Mother’s Day think of all the working moms around you. Don't just celebrate their sacrifices but be supported and be a change for them

Happy Mother's Day to my fellow #academicmom out there!