'It's important that caregivers stay engaged in paid labor’

Economist and University of Kansas professor Misty L. Heggeness, whose book Swiftynomics: How Women Mastermind and Redefine Our Economy, releases this week, discusses universal childcare, gender stereotypes and what’s holding women back

You write that “a caregiver’s best weapon for making positive improvements for women everywhere and for the next generation of women is to stay engaged in paid work.” What are some of the costs caregivers face when they stay engaged? The world outside our home is often led and managed by people who I define as being very care-privileged, meaning they have somebody else who cooks their meals for them, somebody else who maybe washes their clothes. When people who have lots of care privilege are the only ones in the leadership positions and the only ones thinking they know the story, it's really challenging for them to be able to construct flexible work environments where people with heavy care needs can thrive. 

A perfect example of this is in Congress. Congress has yet to really prioritize women and caregivers. I've been through an airline bailout, a bank bailout and an auto bailout. But we put something forward to Congress like universal childcare, and people just tend to balk. It's all about values and priorities and if you have always had somebody else doing care work for you, it's really hard for you to understand how tough it is. 

It's important that caregivers stay engaged in paid labor because we need them in these conversations. We need them at the table and being part of the solution, not to mention that if you step back from paid work and something happens in your family, the financial disadvantage for the caregivers who have stepped back is real.

You really leaned in to starting a family while pursuing your PhD and career. Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently? No, but let me tell you, it was so exhausting. I used to daydream at my office when my kids were like two and four. I would have these visions at my office cubicle of my male colleagues going home after work and kicking their shoes off, cracking open a beer, flopping down on the couch, putting their feet up on the coffee table and watching a whole sports game. When I would leave work at the Department of Labor, I would get my two kids in my double-seated stroller and take the 30-minute Metro ride. I wouldn't look anybody directly in the eye because one or the other of my kids was tantruming. I would get home, make meals, give them baths, read them books and put them to bed. And then I would crash because I was so exhausted. It is not a life for the weak at heart, but I would 100% do it all the same. 

I know that the minute you step out of work to have children, your entire lifetime earnings trajectory lowers. I just didn't feel like I should have to make that choice, so I made probably the most difficult choice, which is I just kept on working through all of it. That's the main reason why I think we need things like universal childcare and infrastructure. If we're going to really address the gender wage gap in this country, we need to make a system that's set up for parents — both fathers and mothers — to be able to thrive in paid labor and also balance their unpaid work responsibilities within their families.

In the final chapter, you include a tidy list of changes you believe need to happen in our society. Which do you think is the single most important? I always want to say universal childcare. It’s one of the easiest things we could implement because we already have universal childcare for kids ages 5 to 17. It's called public schools. Why can't we just extend that down? I can't think of anything else that we could do as a society in terms of an investment that would have a higher return than investing in the health and well-being of our young children.