The Impact of COVID-19 on Utah Women and Work: Childcare and Homeschooling

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020–2021 has impacted workers across the globe. Women have been disproportionately impacted during this time. At one point during the pandemic, a publication from the National Women’s Law Center reported that women dropped out of the workforce at a rate four times that of men. Utah has seen similar negative impacts on working women. The Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah reported that from 2019 to 2020, jobs held by women declined at a rate more than double that of men, and unemployment rose more for females than males. One major reason for these discrepancies is likely the large burden women have carried for childcare and homeschooling children as daycare facilities and schools were closed in efforts to curb the spread of the virus. In fact, a McKinsey and Lean In study reported that, in dual-income households, mothers were three times more likely than fathers to bear the main responsibility for a majority of housework and childcare. Gallup recently confirmed that women with children left the workforce at a significantly greater rate than men with children