COVID-19 is a public health and economic crisis, and women are bearing the brunt of the resulting
economic devastation. Americans are living through the country’s first “shecession”. Over the last 50
years, women and mothers have become an inextricable part of the American labor force. Social and
economic policies, however, have not kept pace with the advancement of women. And women of color
are shouldering the heaviest burden of the nation’s systemic failures and inequities. Women in America
have endured a decades-long childcare and workforce support crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has
simply brought the role of women in the US workforce into stark relief.LBJ School of Public Affair
