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John,
Every year, on Mother’s Day, I send flowers to my mom. It’s a small gesture to remind her that I recognize and appreciate all the work and love she pours into our family. The gift I wish I could give her is the policy change for which I advocate for Prosperity Now.
My mom raised me as a single mom, and when I was five years old, my grandfather had a devastating heart attack. From then on, my mom began managing her dad’s health needs, raising me, all while going to college and working part-time jobs to try and make ends meet. As time passed, his health needs increased, and to this day, he lives with my mom so she can support him as he ages. While she is rightfully proud to provide for me, my brother, and her dad, this reality put emotional and financial strain on our family for years.
To uncover the impact of unpaid care work on women and their financial stability, Prosperity Now and Oxfam America authored a joint research project, “Unseen Work, Unmet Needs,” looking to understand the challenges women like my mother face and identify the solutions that would put her needs first.
This illuminating report puts numbers to an unspoken truth: women carry a heavy load:
- Women provide a significantly higher share of unpaid caregiving for both children and adults than men, across race and ethnicity. In an average week, women spend seven and a half more hours on child care than men.
- Black and Hispanic women are the most acutely affected by this phenomenon, showing higher involvement in unpaid caregiving when compared to other ethnic and racial groups and when compared to their male counterparts.
My mom is not alone in caring for her loved ones.
Down in Louisiana, we met Delaney. Delaney is the mom of a son with DiGeorge syndrome, a chromosomal disorder that affects the development and function of multiple systems within the body. She is also the daughter of a stroke survivor, and she has struggled to find a workplace that honors the time off she needs to care for her family. A national paid leave program and a right to paid sick days would give Delaney the space she needs to care for her father and son without risking her family’s financial security.
Prosperity Now is advocating for important policy recommendations such as increased access to affordable child care and quality long-term and home- and community-based care, such as home health aides. These policies would help women’s time spent providing unpaid labor. This cannot be done without also providing quality pay and jobs to the care providers themselves, who are also disproportionately women and women of color.
Let’s make the lives of our moms and future moms easier by supporting key policies like this. If you are someone who sees the inequities and wants to be part of the solution, join us with your generous contribution today in honor of Mother's Day.
Gina Kelley
Policy Associate
