Column
Coronavirus Is Having an Outsized Impact on Working Moms
The consequences of COVID-19 are already gendered
As I write this column, three little girls are in the room next to me playing (and occasionally screaming). I usually don’t have children in my home on a workday morning, but such is the new reality while the coronavirus makes its way through the United States.
My daughter’s school sent out an email yesterday afternoon that classes would be canceled for the rest of the week. Since spring break was already scheduled to begin next week, my daughter is now effectively out of school for three weeks. Given that so many people are canceling travel and vacation plans, we’re talking about hundreds of kids (probably thousands in New York) out of school with nowhere to go. That creates a whole other headache for parents already busy worrying about preventing ourselves and our families from contracting the virus.
In addition to the strain these closings put on low-income families — many of whom depend on the two meals a day their children get at school — working parents are going to suffer. Working moms, in particular.
A few minutes after my daughter’s school sent out the email notifying parents of the closure, I received five texts from other moms all essentially…
