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January 28, 2021

Report: Pandemic decimates childcare businesses, threatening women’s return to workforce

Photo | CT MIrror
By Liese Klein

Candice Dormon was running a successful childcare business from her home in New Haven at this time last year, focusing on nature play and outdoor activities. Weeks after the pandemic hit, she closed her doors forever, fearing the health risk of COVID-19 to her son with asthma. 

“Women across the state have had to make impossible decisions,” Dormon said. “The job you need to take care of your family is the thing that can harm your family.”

Dormon spoke on Thursday at a news conference highlighting a report cataloging the damage to women’s lives and economic stability wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The report, “Essential Equity: Women, Covid-19 and Rebuilding CT,” drew on data from state and federal agencies and nonprofits helping women across the state.

The childcare sector has suffered devastating losses, the report found, with 46,000 places for children lost due to the closing and scaling back of businesses. Connecticut has lost 50% of its childcare capacity since the pandemic hit, according to state data. 

Statewide, 92% of childcare providers are owned by women, no doubt helping to drive another disparity: Women have filed 56% of continuing unemployment claims since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, according to the report. 

Between $150 million and $500 million in wages have been lost in Connecticut due to women leaving the workforce, said Michelle Riordan-Nold, executive director of the Connecticut Data Collaborative.

Childcare business owners need support and help in tapping into PPP and other pandemic relief programs, Dormon said. Language, literacy and other issues prevent many women “solopreneurs” from taking advantage of relief efforts, she added.  

“There are too many barriers to entry,” Dormon said. 

Connecticut won’t bounce back from the pandemic disaster without a special focus on the needs of women and girls, said Jennifer Steadman, presenter of the report and director of the Aurora Foundation, a Hartford nonprofit focused on women’s issues. Eviction and homelessness are other issues disproportionately affecting women, especially women of color, she added.  

“Effective economic recovery won’t be possible without women,” Steadman said. 

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