Covid's Drastic Impact on Working Mothers

According to a report by the International Labor Organization (ILO), over 75 percent of the unpaid care work, which includes taking care of one's children as well as parents or grandparents, was still done by women in 2018. The added pressure of the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated this issue with mothers in the workforce.

As our chart based on data from the McKinsey Women in the Workplace survey from 2020 shows, almost one quarter of female respondents with children under the age of 10 thought about leaving the workforce entirely due to the challenges they faced due to the rapid spread of the virus and its impacts on their jobs, with the percentage share of all female parents considering the same standing at 18 percent. Men, on the other hand, thought of this as less of an issue, with only 13 percent of fathers with kids younger than 10 and 11 percent of fathers overall pondering quitting their jobs altogether. When it comes to downshifting careers, the playing field is a little more level, with figures hovering between 11 and 17 percent for men and women.

In a report on the share of female workers per occupation worldwide, the ILO determined that out of the 63 percent of the world population that was included in the analysis, women made up 88 percent of personal care workers, 76 percent of health associate professionals, 69 percent of health professionals and 68 percent of teaching professionals.