There is a five alarm fire burning that is going to impact A GENERATION of gender equity in all of society, and it's getting not enough attention. It's the impact of virtual school on MOTHERS specifically. These stats should stop you dead in your tracks: source.wustl.edu/2021/03/school… this is crucial research by @CaitlynMCollins that should be big national news. "In states where elementary schools primarily offered remote instruction, the gender gap between parents in workforce surpassed 23 percentage points in 2020."

This is not a critique of vaccine prioritization, just an irony. The paid caregivers for my kids (teachers, daycare workers etc) are eligible for the vaccine, but if you are an UNPAID caregiver of children, you aren't eligible. Just another way we devalue care work. Also it still BLOWS MY MIND there is not political mobilization for compensating parents for the unpaid work and personal/financial sacrifices we've done in the last year.

865K women exiting the workforce in one month is perhaps the long term-impactful economic story of the year, period. Why are only podcasts/outlets aimed at women/moms inviting me to talk about it? Economics and general interest shows/outlets. Hi. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm a Harvard Nieman fellow, creator of an acclaimed reported podcast on a new generation of working mothers. (pssst.. i have a tip) The status of mothers in the workplace... effects everyone

Y'all. The Double Shift is BACK. Ep 1 out today, with co-host @agarbes. This ep all about making sure mothers' voices are actually heard during this most extraordinary time. Listen & Subscribe! traffic.megaphone.fm/DSPRD661132364… 865,000 women left the workforce btw aug and sept. The Double Shift is here to make sure our forced exodus from workplaces does not mean we are forced out of conversations and the shaping our collective future.

In a rare spot of good news, I love reading about how employees at @Poynter spent a year advocating for a better family leave policy and now have 6 months! poynter.org/business-work/… One of the advocates, @Mel_Grau, was told to "not get her hopes up" since others had tried and failed before, but the times are a changin'! I'm extremely gratified to know that my reporting for @NiemanReports 3 yrs ago has been fuel for the fire across the media industry

Have you ever seen a man publicly acknowledge the childcare that allowed him the space to work that let him get a promotion, finish a book, come up with a scientific breakthrough or win an award? you see men thanking their wives, but why do women acknowledge that paid childcare makes their work possible when men never do?

I have an entire section in my almost finished book proposal called "The Case for matriarchy." After the hellscape of 2020, who's ready to sign on? FUN FACTS ABOUT MATRIARCHY: the highest compliment a man can get is being called "a good mother."

Yesterday I was accepted to become a poll worker in Durham, NC. This is the most impactful thing I feel I can do rn for the future of all of children and to protect our democracy. Here are some FAQs & how you can join me. I'm challenging myself to get 10 others to sign up! /1 This is important bc historically in many places the average age of a poll worker was around 70, and many states are expecting shortages, which will mean longer lines and maybe closed precincts. This isn't volunteer - it's a paid position, in NC $15/hr, including paid training

This morning I am angry that there is no serious legislative discussion to pay parents to stay home to conduct virtual school (or to offset childcare costs while they work) In any civilized society the debate would be not "if" we should give $ but "how much." I am hereby never again using the term "dropping out" to describe mothers leaving the workforce. Drop outs connote failure: unmotivated underachievers. What's happening rn is a systemic policy failure gun to the head that's holding mothers' careers hostage.

Mothers of America do not "have this all under control." It will not "all work out fine." We cannot "somehow make it work." The people in power are assuming you will pick up all the pieces of our shattered society with no help & without complaining too much. Truly, fuck this. We are worried we'll be hurting our kids if we don't make online school work out. We are worried about losing our jobs or being bad employees if we can't do insane tasks while working for money. Let's stop pretending and start refusing.

Greetings from 3 days til the start of "virtual kindergarten" in NC!

1. They ran out of chromebooks after distributing to grade 3-5. no date set for when the other kids will get devices.

2. we've had 2 childcare arrangements fall through in the last 5 days. I am angry every single day about the state of our schools & country and the huge strain the places esp on working mothers. Here's who i'm directing my anger at:

Here are the first anecdotal ripples of the anti-mom bias tsunami that is coming from impossible COVID circumstances via @JoanCWilliams nytimes.com/2020/08/06/opi… PREACH: "This crisis should help us finally recognize that mothers are raising the next generation of citizens; motherhood is not a private frolic like hang gliding."

The subtext of this article is mom-shaming, and that it's selfish to get outside help with remote learning. Using the most icky, privileged examples, the message is that and the noble thing is for mothers to quit their jobs to be homeschool teachers washingtonpost.com/education/fall… completely do not condone offering public school teachers huge amounts of money to leave the system to become private tutors. But wish this article had nuances for how working parents (ie mothers) are supposed to get through this

The Double Shift, which is the only reported podcast that centers the stories of working mothers, will be coming back for a 3rd season. I'm sad about how many women-led shows have ended in the last 6 months. It says a lot about the state of the podcast industry: I will miss The Cut on Tuesdays, @BTSWpodcast @longestshortest @zigzagpod & The Waves. All had unique feminist perspectives.

Coming (slowly) back from maternity leave since my twins were born mid feb. Did I miss anything? obviously this is a joke.

Wondering how much all of your extra unpaid pandemic domestic labor is worth? @amywestervelt has updated her always relevant invisible labor calculator in time for Mother’s Day huffpost.com/entry/mothers-… Too busy to write anything for Mother’s Day or even calculate my number bc I’m on an unpaid maternity leave w newborn twins and a bonus out of school forever preschooler

All healthcare heroes and essential workers deserve our praise, but the most under-appreciated group fighting this pandemic are mothers. we are bearing the brunt of the complete shutdown of society, and there is no flattened curve without the mostly unpaid and unappreciated care work mothers are doing RN, without the benefit of any community support or even a goddamn playground.

email sent from public school principal today (sunday) at 2:23PM, subject "spirit week 2019" WHY

Today's episode of The Double Shift is a convo w/me where I attempt be as honest as possible about what maternity leave looks like as an entrepreneur with no access to paid leave... thedoubleshift.com/episodes/s2-ep… ...accepting the realities that I have no idea what taking care of twins will be like, some "mom tropes" that deeply bother me and discussing some of what I’ve learned from this season.

just found out the hospital where I'm delivering twins in is "baby friendly," aka there is no nursery for you to send your babies to for any amount of time to recover yourself... please stay tuned for my reported piece in 2020 on why "baby friendly" is code for "mom unfriendly." Twitter, this thread has gone mega viral, and I have seen a lot of really upsetting and eye opening stories on this thread about how women are not supported post-partum, which happen across a range hospital experiences

People often dismiss my work as niche...but PERHAPS how we treat working mothers in integral to the survival of our entire society?!?! nytimes.com/interactive/20… my least favorite counterpoint about how badly mothers are treated in society is, "well, it was your choice to have kids." as if that's a justification for economic marginalization & discrimination