The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the economic, gender, and racial injustices in our country. We’ve seen 5.4 million women leave the workforce, many due to childcare or other caregiving demands. But, even before the pandemic, women and children already made up 70% of our nation’s poor, despite the fact that women have earned their place as the most educated cohort in the labor force in America.
Our collective failure to invest in policies that support caregivers, ensure working people can both care for themselves and their loved ones, and guarantee women are at long last paid equitably at work has unraveled decades of progress in the labor market and threatens to hold back the economy for decades to come.
By redefining Care as permanent, national infrastructure, Congress and the Biden-Harris Administration have an incredible opportunity to make transformational strides to eliminate American poverty, ensure equitable, financial stability for tens of millions of women and families, and create millions of jobs across all sectors.