“Pew Research found that even in households where the woman was the primary earner, women spend 4.5 more hours per week than men on childrearing and housework. Despite having more resources, these women are still left to do it all within a broken childcare system and persistent heteronormative gender roles. I asked Reshma Saujani, Founder and CEO of Moms First, a simple question: Why?

“ ‘Despite the fact that the majority of mothers today work outside the home and have breadwinning roles in their families, we’ve still never designed workplaces that actually work for moms, and that needs to change,’ says Saujani. When legislators vote against subsidized child care, parental leave, and other threads of the safety net mothers need, it erodes our confidence.

“We may have shattered that glass ceiling but we are still trying to work and parent while tiptoeing among the shards. Saujani says, ‘When we decide not to guarantee paid leave, or when we decide that childcare is a personal problem for every mother to figure out on her own, we’re also sending a message about whose labor we value and whose labor we don’t.’ ” 

— “Americans Spend Nearly 30% of Their Income on Childcare — Here’s Why That’s a Problem for Businesses,” by Meg St-Esprit, Chief.com, July 12, 2023