It’s time to change the narrative about women in the labor force post pandemic.
Hello Friend -
Kids are finally back in school in person. It’s logical that working mothers who stayed at home to oversee their children’s virtual education will return to the labor force this fall. This could lift working mothers’ post-pandemic labor force participation rates, which lagged behind those of working dads as well as non-parents.
However, some women might not want to go back to work. They are reassessing what is most important to them and what gives them fulfillment. That may not be climbing the career ladder, fighting hours of traffic each day or sitting behind a desk from 9 to 5.
What does this mean for the workforce? For the public policies that government should embrace?
I will be joined by Rachel Greszler, senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation; Karen Lips, president of Network of enlightened Women; and Angela Rachidi, senior fellow and Rowe Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, to discuss working mothers’ return to the workforce, COVID’s impact on preferences for and the availability of flexible work, and the policy implications of proposed workplace policies included in the $3.5 trillion Bernie-Biden Budget Bill.
This discussion is extremely timely.
Democrats in Washington want to justify massive government spending on paid maternity and family leave, childcare subsidies, and universal Pre-K as means to nudge women back into the labor force.
Meanwhile they are on a path to kill flexible work opportunities and limit entrepreneurship through regulations and bills such as the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act).
It’s time to change the narrative about women in the labor force post pandemic to better reflect the employment choices many women are making.
