Career College Central

Subscribe at careercollegecentral.com 52 past when the occasional school or daycare closure came up. With the broad shutdowns we've seen over the past several months, however, that has been much harder to do on a long-term basis. is is especially true for parents who are themselves trying to keep up with closures, physical distancing guidelines, or remote work requirements. And for families who rely on grandparents or other relatives for occasional (or regular) childcare support, they may not feel comfortable putting them at risk of exposure to the virus. e long and short of it is, it's affecting everyone. Still, it doesn't affect everyone equally. Families of color in the United States are disproportionately affected by COVID-19 itself, according to reports like one from Johns Hopkins, for example. "ese communities share common social and economic factors, already in place before the pandemic, that increase their risk for COVID-19," Sherita Golden, M.D., M.H.S., a specialist in endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism, and chief diversity officer at Johns Hopkins Medicine, is quoted as saying. Golden cites inconsistent access to healthcare, employment in essential fields, chronic health conditions, and crowded living conditions as some of those factors that disproportionately affect communities of color—and that can have a more dramatic impact on contracting the disease. Black families are also less likely than white families to have at least one working family member when one family member is unemployed, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). is again puts families of color in a more vulnerable state, even before they have to face the risks and complications resulting from the pandemic. Women as primary caregivers ese issues can and do affect a diverse cross-section of parents and caregivers, but they affect some more than others. And they can be especially devastating for women. Women remain most likely to bare the most responsibility for ensuring children are taken care of, regardless of what else is going on in the world, and they're the parents who are most likely to make professional or educational sacrifices in order to make it work for the kids. At a time when unemployment rates have skyrocketed across the country and families are bracing for the effects of an economic downturn, women who have already had to choose between advancing their careers and maintaining a household are being asked to shoulder even more responsibility. As a Washington Post feature sums it up: "e ongoing public health crisis has also exposed inequality in household labor, which is crucial to the functioning of our economy and our collective survival. In most families, women's responsibilities now include more food preparation, cleaning and child care than ever before, with those who are economically vulnerable facing the greatest challenges." Even a year or two out of the workforce can affect someone's earnings trajectory for the rest of their life; women who have had to take time off work to raise families may see that earnings loss compounded by unemployment or underemployment during this pandemic. Betsey Stevenson, labor economist at the University of Michigan, told Politico that the impact of how we treat childcare now will be felt by the economy—and women's outcomes—for decades.

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