Results for: women's workforce participation

The Supreme Court has emphasized the importance of child care leave (CCL) for women’s employment, but the government needs to do more to support women in the workforce. The Periodic Labour Force Survey Report 2022-23 shows that the female labour force participation rate is increasing, but there are still too few provisions to ensure that women can smoothly balance work and family responsibilities. Women carry a disproportionate burden of care responsibilities, which can lead them to drop out of the workforce or take a hit in their professional growth. Progressive legislation is essential to plug the gaps, but other aspects need to be addressed as well, such as investing in affordable and specialized child and elder care infrastructure and fostering a gender-neutral approach to care work.

Prohibitive child care expenses are driving a significant number of mothers to leave their jobs or significantly alter their careers in the United States. The burden falls disproportionately on women without college degrees, who face greater employment gaps and financial hardship due to the lack of affordable care options. Despite historic highs in women’s workforce participation, the crisis persists, particularly for mothers without college degrees.

In the United States, high-quality child care is prohibitively expensive. The best option could cost about $2,000 per month, with a long waitlist. This burden falls most heavily on mothers, who are more likely to leave their jobs to care for children. As a result, the gap in employment rates between mothers with college degrees and those who don’t has widened. For mothers without college degrees, a day without work is often a day without pay. Even for those who can afford child care, the cost is overwhelming. The Department of Health and Human Services defines affordable child care as costing no more than 7% of a household budget, but a Labor Department study found fewer than 50 American counties where a family earning the median household income could obtain child care at an affordable price.