How the Coronavirus Pandemic Established New Challenges for Many Working Moms in the United States?

working moms coronavirus pandemic Professional Challenges

By Camille Hutchison , Parent Herald Sep 30, 11:07 am

According to the data from Pew Research Center, the coronavirus pandemic has established new and numerous challenges and reinforced existing ones for many working moms in the United States. In the first few months of the pandemic, there was an increase in mothers who stated that they chose not to work for pay at all.

In an October 2020 survey, around 27 percent of moms with kids younger than 18 at home said that at that point in their life, the best work arrangement for them would be not working for pay, up from 19 percent who said so in a summer 2019 survey. The number of moms who claimed that working full time would be best for them dropped from 51 percent to 44 percent during such span, while around three in ten in both surveys claimed they prefer working part-time.

Working moms were reported more likely to experience professional hurdles than working dads during the pandemic, says the same October 2020 survey. Employed moms with kids below 18 at home faced different professional challenges since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak. At least 54 percent of working moms stated that they could not give their hundred percent best at work as they were balancing both work and parenting responsibilities, compared with 43 percent of working dads who said this.

The study also determined that working moms were more likely than dads to say they needed to lessen their working hours due to parenting responsibilities. Some 19 percent of mothers stated they were not committed to their work because they had kids.

Women have lost work since the pandemic began

Generally, moms view themselves as shouldering more childcare duties than their spouses, while fathers claimed that the responsibilities were evenly shared, according to the same October 2020 survey. Around 74 percent of moms in opposite-sex relationships stated they did more to manage their kid's schedules and activities than their partners. Only three percent said that their spouse took on more of these responsibilities and roughly 54 percent of moms said that they did more than their partner to be an involved parent, while only 3 percent said their partner did more.

However, 63 percent of fathers in opposite-sex relationships claimed that being an involved parent was equally shared between them and their partner. Earlier this year, almost half of working moms stated that the coronavirus outbreak made it more challenging to manage childcare responsibilities. According to a February 2022 survey, around 58 percent of working moms said balancing work and parenting responsibilities during a pandemic was difficult, while only 43 percent of dads said so.

Furthermore, more than a third of moms remotely working said they had many childcare responsibilities, especially when working from home. Unfortunately, according to the National Women's Law Center, women have lost more than five million jobs since February 2020, and since the pandemic began, ABC News reported.

Working moms experienced mild psychological distress

The study also showed that almost half of working moms experienced mild psychological distress, and its percentage remained higher than men with children from March through July when the study was conducted.

The coronavirus pandemic has made it even harder for working moms to handle work and parenting responsibilities, especially when kids are still in virtual learning and steal most of their time. Working moms also experience anxiety about sending their kids back to the classroom.

Jennifer Haynes, a Rancho Cucamonga resident and a single mom of twin boys, told KCRW that due to the pandemic, life at home has been busy, particularly when juggling work and parenting responsibilities, as children need to have that attention from you, and you need to give it to them which would make it even harder considering that you are also working.