78% of moms who live with male co-parents say they are managing the majority of their kids’ online learning
May 6, 2020 (Washington, DC) — Ahead of Mother’s Day, ParentsTogether, a national parent-led organization, has released a survey of 1,500 parents showing that most of the load of managing kids’ distance learning is falling on moms.
The survey confirmed that staying on top of children’s constantly shifting remote learning schedules and video calls, keeping them focused, connecting them to teachers, and helping with their work can be extremely challenging — especially when parents are trying to work themselves. And results showed that most of this load is falling on moms.
According to the survey, 78% of moms who live with male co-parents said they are managing the majority of the distance learning. 73% of single moms, and 69% of partnered moms agreed that managing distance learning in addition to other responsibilities was either “difficult” or “breaking me.”
“Every parent with kids at home is doing a heroic — and impossible — job right now. But the evidence is now clear that moms disproportionately are getting crushed by the extra load of managing their children’s distance learning,” said Bethany Robertson, Co-Founder and Co-Director of ParentsTogether. “Parents, and moms especially, are telling us that, as a country, we can’t keep asking them to be both employees and full-time caregivers. Parents need financial relief, paid leave, and workplace flexibility. And, maybe for Mother’s Day, the best gift would be giving Mom a break from managing all the kids’ Zoom schedules.”
The survey found that low-income moms (and all low-income parents) are facing additional challenges. Compared to moms with household income over $100,000/yr, moms with household incomes under $25,000/yr are five times more likely to not have enough devices for their kids to learn on, almost twice as likely to be concerned about their kids falling behind academically, and twice as likely to be worried about their children’s mental health.
This Mother’s Day, ParentsTogether is calling on employers, dads who co-parent with moms, and the federal government to all step up and do more for moms. Specifically, ParentsTogether is asking:
- Employers to provide more flexibility for employees with extra caregiving responsibilities during the pandemic.
- The federal government to provide more financial relief to parents, many of whom are losing income due to childcare obligations. Government should provide ongoing emergency payments to families, and expand paid leave and unemployment insurance programs to cover all workers.
- Those co-parents who are not already sharing the distance learning load to step up and do more.
- That funds be set aside for supporting at-risk students, many of whom are falling even further behind due to the pandemic.
About ParentsTogether: ParentsTogether is a national, parent-led organization with over 2 million community members from coast to coast working together to build a world where every child and family can thrive. Our membership is socio-economically and racially diverse, and includes parents from every state. For more information, contact Madison Donzis at [email protected].