- Melinda Gates, cochair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and founder of Pivotal Ventures, recently spoke with Politico about re-opening the US economy amid the coronavirus pandemic.
- Gates said in order to reopen the economy, Congress must grant workers more paid sick leave days and more days to care for family members.
- She also called on business leaders to change corporate policy, including adding flexible working hours for employees and onsite childcare.
- This post is part of Business Insider's ongoing series on Better Capitalism.
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Melinda Gates spends most of her time anticipating some of the world's biggest problems.
Before the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, Gates, who is cochair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and founder of Pivotal Ventures, and her husband Bill, were sounding the alarm on global pandemics and the need for more research. Now, she's warning that the US economy can't reopen without fixing what she calls the country's "broken" system of childcare and eldercare.
"If we want our employees to come back to work, we're going to have to address caregiving," Gates told Politico's Anna Palmer in a recent Zoom interview.
Without federally mandated leave of any kind for workers, including days to care for a family member, much of the burden falls on the backs of women. Research shows that mothers perform about 60% of childcare: 7.2 hours per week for fathers versus 13.7 hours for mothers. And women are more likely to leave the workforce to care for family members.
"They're home right now. We're seeing them. We're all seeing them," she said. For the millions of Americans working remotely right now, the pandemic has laid bare the haphazard system of caregiving in the US, Gates said. Those who previously didn't understand what it meant to juggle caregiving and work now see how difficult it is, either in their own homes or from seeing their employees struggle.
A recent Business Insider report found that the pandemic is set to close 30% of US childcare centers for good, as many depend on daily enrollment fees that are no longer coming in. This will impact millions of American families. A 2019 report from the Committee for Economic Development said that about 11.8 million (58.7%) of children under age five participated in regular, weekly care arrangements with a non-parental provider. Economists said these potential closures could prove catastrophic for the careers of American women.
Business leaders can fix this problem, starting with their own corporate policies.
To address the looming problem, Gates is calling on Congress to make change, specifically by legislating more sick leave days and days to care for a loved one.
"My message to Washington is we have to look at all employees as caregivers. We are caring for those at home. And this hidden cost that our economy is built on the back of is finally visible to all of us," Gates said the interview with Politico.
The private sector, too, has a role to play.
"I would say to business leaders, think about what you can do," said Gates, who suggested having more flexible work hours and considering on-site childcare.
"You can make this happen," she said.
SEE ALSO: The pandemic is set to shutter 30% of US childcare centers
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