The shameful lack of women in Congress sent child care over a cliff

At the end of September, child care in America went off a cliff. Congress, consumed by a potential government shutdown, didn’t move fast enough to prevent the fall. 

It is surprising to me that the story wasn’t covered with more urgency. But the truth is barriers to women working in America are old news in this country. It demonstrates why we need more women in elected office in America, and with real urgency. 

What happened? Congress put $52 billion towards child care during the COVID-19 pandemic. It did so, hoping to prevent a disaster in the child care sector. Now, $37 billion of those grants has expired. 

That is money that kept child care and early education workers employed. It allowed child care centers to stay open. Now that we’re over the cliff, 70,000 child care programs will likely close. The closures will cost the country close to $20 billion in lost earnings, tax and business revenue. Black and immigrant women make up 40 percent of the child care workforce and 94 percent of child care workers are women. So, they will suffer the worst from huge job losses. 

I lead an organization devoted to building young women’s political leadership. Like many working women I also have children, and the closure of so many day cares is terrifying. During the pandemic, I found a small family-run day care for our three-year-old. We could drop him off in the morning and pick him up at 4:30 p.m., leaving me time to do my job as a new chief executive. 

Parents need time to manage their children’s lives, from grocery shopping to sorting out health insurance, and child care is essential for us to show up in full ways in America’s workforce. Without day care I would not be able to do the work of encouraging young women to run for political office. And yet I am aware that without day care, even more young women must run for political office to fix the issue. 

It’s an impossible catch-22 situation to put young women into. I expect it is one that we are going to have to grit our teeth for and dive into with little choice. Women know this feeling all too well. But I would like to think this country could do better for us. 

Without these essential child care services, too many of us will face impossible pressures. More than three million children across America could lose their early education spots. Many families are likely to see their child care costs go up, which means they may need to reduce work hours or leave the workforce. 

Congress has introduced the Child Care Stabilization Act to prevent the crisis. It would provide $16 billion each year for the next five years to continue propping up the system. Another proposal suggests doubling the Child Care and Development Block Grant. But these are ideas, not policies ready for signature into law. 

If you ask many women whether good ideas are likely to be of comfort over the coming months, they’ll tell you no. Ideas don’t prevent you from falling off cliffs. You can’t imagine a parachute. We need action and what is more, we needed it yesterday. It’s incredibly frustrating. 

With gender parity in Congress due in 118 years at the current rate, I can’t help but wonder about the delay and inaction in closing the gap. If more women held positions of power in Congress, I am certain we would be in a different place. And yet, it is hard for me to look a young woman in the eye and tell her to run for office. There are so many barriers, from fundraising to sexist media narratives about women in power to today’s lack of parity. 

So often, we tell young women, “Yes, go for it, you can do this.” But the truth is harder. The truth is we need young women to steel themselves and run for office because, without them, we’ll see more of the same. And the same is so intolerable that we need them to make the sacrifices required. Even though it is hard. Even though the barriers get higher and more costly every day. 

I am aware that, as a woman of color, it is easy for critics to stereotype me as angry. But it is more than that. I am impatient and energetic for change on behalf of all women. We deserve much better, and it is time to make it happen. 

Sara Guillermo is chief executive of IGNITE, a young women’s political empowerment organization.