Jessica Calarco on how women became Americas safety net WFTV [Video]

CHICAGO — (AP) — Compared with its economic peers, the United States lacks social safety net programs like sick time, vacation time and health care. For decades, American women have filled the gaps, to the detriment of themselves and their families, according to sociologist Jessica Calarco.

Calarco, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, studies inequalities in family life and education. She is also the author of “Holding It Together: How Women Became America’s Safety Net,” published last month.

More than two-thirds of Americans’ unpaid caregiving work — valued at $1 trillion annually — is done by women, according to an analysis by the National Partnership for Women & Families based on 2023 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Calarco discusses her book and explains why women in the U.S. bear the brunt of prohibitively expensive high-quality daycare, limited government assistance and inaccessible paid maternal leavein the …