The arrival of Covid-19 vaccines marks the beginning of the end of the pandemic, but it will likely be months before the risk of contracting the coronavirus subsides and society returns to some semblance of normality. The end is in sight, but in many ways, Americans find themselves right back where they started.
To Keep Women in the Workforce, Men Need to Do More at Home
Many scholars and commentators have called upon fathers to increase their domestic contributions to mitigate the negative effects of the pandemic on mothers’ employment. The authors’ new study, published in Gender, Work & Organization, confirms that in families where fathers do a greater share of childcare, mothers were far less likely to suffer negative employment outcomes in the early days of the pandemic. For the remainder of the pandemic and beyond, fathers who increase the time they spend engaging in childcare can likely alleviate mothers’ burdens and protect their careers. But that’s only part of the solution. Helping men understand the importance of their participation at home and how it can cushion the negative effects of the pandemic on women must be a national project. It is time for a national campaign that implores men to step up their domestic contributions in the personal and national interest.