(AFP) – At the start of the pandemic, Adeola Oyekola had to close her family nursery at her home in Washington. After reopening it in February at reduced capacity, she fears having to close it again because of the Delta variant, at the risk of penalizing working women.
“I have children of my own and no one really knows what’s going to happen,” says Oyekola.
The vaccination campaign in the United States has enabled companies to rehire more than half of the 22 million people who had been made redundant in the spring of 2020 but many mothers were unable to return to the workforce for lack of care children, according to experts.
Women took advantage of less than half of the 850,000 jobs created in June, according to the Labor Department.
For now, at this rate, it would take more than nine months before the estimated 3.8 million jobs that women still lack are recreated, according to the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC).
Although the unemployment rate for the general American population fell to 5.9% in June, and that of white women to 5%, it still stood for black and Hispanic women at 8.5. % and 7.9% respectively.
In question, the closure of schools and nurseries as well as the fear of the Delta variant. The issue of “childcare plays an important role in the return of women to work,” recognizes Gillian Branstetter of the NWLC.
She stresses that there is still a shortage of 115,000 workers in the sector, “forcing many professionals to reduce their reception capacities while increasing childcare costs” for those who are accommodated, she told AFP.
– Doubts for the start of the school year –
The virtual school almost generalized in the country during the 2020-2021 school year had a considerable impact on women: those aged 25 to 44 were three times more affected by unemployment than men.
“I was fired in March 2020 when the Covid hit, but we were lucky,” says Stephanie Shipman, who lives in the Washington area, and whose husband was able to work from home while she was away. looked after the education of their little boy.
In June, this customer support specialist resumed her work. But she now plans to keep her child at home.
The Delta variant is gaining ground in the United States as in the rest of the world as vaccination stagnates, raising fears of a new closure of schools at the start of the school year at the end of August, which could put mothers of families facing a difficult choice.
“The school public service is a failure,” said Rhonda Vonshay Sharpe, president and founder of the Women’s Institute for Science, Equity and Race.
– Elderly dependent parent too –
And child care is not the only issue facing working women.
Before the pandemic, Christina Ho, a 49-year-old consultant, worked in the office full time while being on her own looking after both her eight-year-old daughter and her elderly mother.
“It was very stressful, but I set limits,” she told AFP.
When the pandemic struck, Ms. Ho adapted quite well to the unprecedented situation, her daughter having “a temper that allows her to stay focused on school.”
But it was “non-stop” for the mother who alternated teleworking and family support.
With her daughter currently in a recreation center for the summer vacation, Ms. Ho recognizes that she can breathe even though she still has to take care of her mother.
She is thus forced to shift her working hours.
President Joe Biden has offered to welcome children to school from three years old instead of four or even five years old, depending on the state.
Its economic program also includes other forms of childcare assistance.
Because private nurseries are very expensive and therefore inaccessible for low-income women.
According to Gillian Branstetter of the National Women’s Law Center, if Joe Biden’s educational and social program were passed in Congress, it would greatly help women return to work by providing “affordable and high quality” care. But “if Congress does not act now, women will continue to pay the price.”
–
