Spilka calls for major investment in caregiving to help women return to workforce
Erin Tiernan | Boston Herald | April 13, 2021
Senate President Karen Spilka is warning of a “caregiving crisis,” as women have been ripped from the workforce to care for children and sick relatives amid the pandemic, and vowed to make Massachusetts a national leader in supporting caregivers by using federal stimulus funds.
“Many people — mostly women — who work in non-caregiving professions but are sandwiched between aging parents and growing children, have dropped out of the workforce in alarming numbers to care for those who rely on them,” Spilka said Tuesday in a speech to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.
Spilka proposed using federal and state dollars to create an affordable and accessible system of “intergenerational care,” but said she’s still “not entirely sure” what it will look like.
President Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Relief Plan includes $500 million for child care.
Spilka said she has “been particularly struck” by the statistics on the devastating effects COVID-19 has had on women in the workplace, noting their participation in the labor market last October was the lowest since 1988.
“Child care is just one piece of what many are calling a ‘caregiving crisis’ — a storm that has been brewing on our horizon for a few years, but which COVID-19 has turned into a full-blown tsunami,” Spilka said.
Late last month the top state Democrat first highlighted the drop of women in the workforce during a webinar hosted by the Boston-based Metropolitan Area Planning Council, saying “the statistics took my breath away.”
“It is clear to me that if we wish to have a full and equitable recovery, we must take a close look at the factors that affect women’s employment, at every level and in every sector, and one clear factor that we must address is caregiving,” Spilka said Tuesday, calling the child care reform “as important to our infrastructure as roads and bridges in getting people back to work.”
A bill passed by the Legislature earlier this month that Spilka referred to as the “mini-grand bargain” would take a major step toward giving women more options when caretaking for relatives sick with COVID-19. It includes paid sick leave for essential workers who fall ill or need to care for a family member. She urged Gov. Charlie Baker to sign the bill.
Policies to create more affordable access to child care have been gaining traction, particularly amid the pandemic. Earlier this year, state Sen. Jason Lewis filed a bill he said would create a universal system of affordable, high-quality child care.
The bill proposes tax subsidies based on income to help families pay for child care and includes breaks for child care businesses, but carries a price tag upward of $2 billion.