Analysis: If Trump really wants to help suburban moms, he’d help get them back to work

In an appeal to suburban women at a rally Tuesday night, President Trump claimed, “We’re getting your husbands back to work.”

Here’s the thing: Many married couples — especially those with children — cannot thrive on just one income. And many more women than men have lost their jobs this year, plus a disproportionate number dropped out of the workforce as a result of the pandemic.

“[Women] are losing their jobs at alarming rates and they are slow to come back. This is even more true for Black and Latina women,” said Lorraine Hariton, president and CEO of Catalyst, a nonprofit research group focused on helping build workplaces that work for women.

So of course while married women want their husbands to have jobs, they’re also very interested in having paying work themselves. And they also want to feel confident their children are well cared for while they make a living.

Last year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 70% of married mothers worked outside the home. Of married women with very young children, 62% did.

But it’s very possible the pandemic may be pushing those numbers lower.

Just last month, women dropped out of the workforce at nearly eight times the rate of men. That means they are no longer looking for a job.

And among women who have risen to senior roles, one in four now report they are considering downshifting their career or getting out of the workforce entirely, according to a recent report from McKinsey and LeanIn.org.

That’s likely because the fallout from the pandemic has been especially hard on working mothers, who in normal times do what women advocates dub the “double shift.” That is, they assume a disproportionate amount of housework and childcare before, during and after their workdays. But with the prevalence of remote learning during most of 2020, the burdens of overseeing their children’s classwork and after-school care have been added to their to-do list.

The pandemic has exposed to employers like never before what working parents have been dealing with for decades: the glaring need for adequate, affordable child care and policies that let parents do their best work while also fulfilling their family responsibilities.

“We need to encourage employers and companies to implement tangible solutions for working women and parents — like flex work and leave for all, innovative models of childcare, investment in at-home technology, and modeling inclusive and flexible policies from the top.” Hariton said.

Advocates for working women also say federal and state governments should develop policies to help make working and having children a more viable option for women, who already have been disadvantaged by a gender gap both in terms of pay and advancement.