With primary schools closed until September, mothers like me are risking our careers to provide childcare

Until lockdown restrictions began on 23 March, my career was underpinned by outsourcing childcare, through school, nursery and grandparents ­­– none of which are currently available

Mothers are the sacrificial lambs of this pandemic, and the government’s mishandling of the reopening of primary schools only proves it.

Women with children, particularly the 600,000 like me who are self-employed, have had their hopes dashed with the news that the government has “dropped” plans to open the school gates to children before September.

We already know that women have been carrying the brunt of the home schooling and chores during lockdown, but the government’s mishandling of the reopening of schools means that many mothers will be forced to step in and provide the childcare stopgap, at the potential cost of our careers.

My partner works in retail and, from the end of March until two weeks ago, was furloughed. But with the reopening of non-essential retail stores from 15 June, he’s been called back to the store that he manages. As such, I have been left to juggle childcare and my career as a freelance journalist. The prospect of balancing both until September feels impossible.

In order to write this piece I’ve sat my young sons, aged two and five, in front of an episode of Paw Patrol with a packet of Monster Munch, which I’m sure you’ll agree is a very temporary solution to a long-term problem.

While children in reception, year one and year six have slowly been welcomed back to the classroom across the country since last week, spaces are limited at the school that my son attends. To still be able to enforce social distancing, classrooms are open to “bubbles” of eight children and one teacher. This means that, quite rightly, places are limited to children of key workers and those deemed vulnerable. My children are neither.

Until lockdown restrictions were announced on 23 March, my career was underpinned by outsourcing childcare, through school, nursery and grandparents ­­– none of which are options currently available to me and my partner.

In 10 short weeks, the progress women like me have made by carving out a career that works for them has been thwarted with one pandemic and the government’s total lack of consideration of the disproportionate impact childcare – or lack thereof – can have on our careers and economic prospects.

Of course, it isn’t just freelancers who have been pulled back into the domestic sphere that we have spent the last century clawing our way out of: women are among those worst affected by the economic fallout of Covid-19. Some experts have even told us to brace ourselves for a so-called “pink collar recession” – a term coined partly due to the closure of women-dominated service industries and rising unemployment figures among women.

According to the Institute of Fiscal Studies, mothers who were in paid employment before lockdown are 47 per cent more likely than fathers to have been dismissed or forced to quit. Only time will tell how today’s announcement will impact that percentage further.

For me, without the time to pitch stories or accept new commissions, I’ve had to pull back considerably from freelancing and cram in as much work into my evenings and weekends as I can. Again, this is a temporary solution to what is shaping up to be a very long-term problem. We need urgent solutions from government; countless more episodes of Paw Patrol will not solve this for us.