Thread by @SarahRiggsAmico

🚨America’s childcare crisis: a THREAD🚨

“We’re literally going to destroy a generation of upward mobility,” Amico said. “A lot of us have known for a long time that childcare is not a personal issue. It’s an economic one for working moms.”

1/ #gapol ajc.com/politics/polit…

Not an exaggeration:
“We’re in danger of erasing the limited gains we’ve made for women over the past few decades, and especially women of color,” said Melissa Boteach, Vice President for Income Security and Child Care/Early Learning @nwlc. 2/fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-t…

Childcare isn’t coming back at the same rate as jobs — and, statistically, women will pick up most of the slack. According to BLS.gov, “married mothers with full-time jobs spent 56 percent more time doing childcare and housework than corresponding fathers”. 3/

One reason childcare hasn’t come back? Our federal government has spent more money — and effort — bailing out a single airline than we’ve spent helping the nation’s entire childcare system. Given the # of jobs held by working parents that makes no sense. 4/forbes.com/sites/hollycor…

Even before #COVID19 83% of parents of children under 5 said finding good, affordable childcare nearby was a “a serious problem”. Now #coronavirus has compounded this issue — especially for Black and Latina women overrepresented in essential worker jobs. 5/vox.com/2020/7/16/2132…

Overrepresentation among essential worker jobs — most of which cannot be done via remote working — combined with the fact that 74% of Black women are the breadwinner in their family, makes the #coronavirus childcare crisis particularly hard for working Black moms. 6/

The childcare crunch is on top of a devastating wage gap for BIPOC women. @nwlc reports the working mom wage gap amounts to $18,000 in lost income annually. For Black moms, that # is $30k. Latina moms: $35k. Over 40 yrs that’s >$1 million in lost wages. 7/marketplace.org/2019/05/10/cos…

#COVID19 has brought America’s childcare crisis to a head; the implications could be felt for decades. Policymakers must address this issue now — esp for working moms & single parents — if we want to revitalize our economy in the months and years ahead. 8/
politico.com/news/magazine/…

Labor Economist Betsey Stevenson: “We are letting the whole child care system erode in such a way that it’s not going to be there for us when we are fully ready to go back.” As that forces some women to leave the workforce, they could face a lifelong drag on their earnings. 9/

How we rebuild our economy post #COVID19 will say a lot about what, and who, America values. We’ll come back stronger if we address systemic inequity by race, gender, and class — including the affordable childcare conundrum.

A feminist, anti-racist recovery? 💯here for it. 10/10