By Gabrielle Moss
And Jessica Milli, study director at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, points to a factor that has nothing to do with leaning in, out, or sideways: women are still expected to perform the majority of domestic labor, including childcare, in our country, because of insufficient family leave policies, and because in many workplaces, there is not “a lot of support for childcare, flexible working arrangements and things like that,” Milli tells Bustle. As a result, women often end up pausing their careers for several years, working fewer hours, or taking on lower-paying jobs with more flexible schedules to accommodate childcare, which can lead to their earning 20 percent less than male peers over the longterm. That statistic comes from a series of studies looking at family culture in the U.S. and Scandinavia, which found no similar earnings drop or career change for fathers.
