More women are working than ever before, but they're still doing most of the care-giving at home

There are almost two million more women aged 24 to 54 in the U.S. labor force than there were five years ago, hitting an all-time high in May of this year. 

By and large, this is due to impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. As working styles became less rigid thanks to the introduction of at-home, remote and hybrid options, this unlocked new possibilities for women.

However, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF), “Historically, women have consistently faced higher unemployment rates than men, except for a short period in 2020 [...] Since then, the likelihood of women experiencing unemployment is again higher than for men.”

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In addition to women being more vulnerable to being out of work, the global female jobs gap rate of 15 percent is significantly above the men’s jobs gap rate of 10.5 percent.

The WEF says that “women are also significantly less likely to be readily available to start work on short notice than men. Evidence suggests that these gaps persist due to both a lack of suitable job opportunities and lack of access to existing opportunities, in turn due to disproportionate care responsibilities and discouragement to search for opportunities, among other factors.”

Additionally, it notes that when women do find work, they often end up in jobs with substandard working conditions.

Caring responsibilities

For American women, it is those caring responsibilities that are a particular issue. In 2022, there were 58 million people aged 65 and older, and this is projected to increase by 47 percent to 2050.

Women bear the biggest burden of care, with a Wells Fargo report finding that women take on more unpaid eldercare, accounting for 59 percent of unpaid caregivers in 2021-2022.

Older women of 55 and above are integral to the provision of care, it says, making up 30 percent of all unpaid caregivers.

“Women shoulder a disproportionate share of these care responsibilities, and with them a disproportionate share of the costs,” the report says, adding, “Yet women are not only leaned on more heavily for unpaid care, but they play an outsized role in providing paid care as well.”

It isn’t just in terms of elder care where women take on more. A report found that 46 percent of mothers left the workforce in 2021 due to child care issues, for example, with other data indicating that men spend only 76 percent of the time caregiving that women do.

When you couple this with the fact that there are now more women in the U.S. labor force, it is undeniable that for many of them, working two jobs, one likely unpaid, is a fact of life.

Women seeking to navigate the minefield of children versus career are already at a disadvantage in terms of gender pay gaps, as well as resume gaps which mean they are often overlooked when they apply for roles.

In that context, it is not surprising to learn that an increasing share of Americans are opting out of having children at all. Recent Pew Research Centre data identified that The U.S. fertility rate reached a historic low last year.

A growing number of women aged 25 to 44 have never given birth, and Pew’s research, which covers men and women, found that those who say they are unlikely to ever have kids has increased by 10 percentage points between 2018 and 2023.

Focusing on career or hobbies is the reason for 44 percent, who say that not having kids has made it easier to afford the things they want, have time for hobbies and interests, and save for the future.

In order for working women to get out of the two job trap, more needs to be done, and research shows that there are significant economic benefits to doing so. The Gates Foundation has identified that providing childcare to women has the potential to add $3 trillion to the global economy each year.

It also points out that expanding child care infrastructure will “create jobs, many of them for women, helping narrow the gender gap when it comes to economic opportunity. Expanding the child care workforce to meet current needs could create 43 million jobs globally.” 

Ultimately, while working women are set to benefit, this is a win-win for everyone.

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