Habibah Johnson breathed a sigh of relief on her youngest son’s third birthday last year, because she no longer needed to worry about childcare.
Staffing shortages in nurseries due to the pandemic meant long waiting lists or high prices — which is why Johnson relied on family and friends to care for her children while she worked last year. Now that his son is three years old, he can send him to PreK-3, a free state program.
But lack of childcare isn’t the only crisis women are facing lately. Over the last six months, caregivers, mothers and menstruating people have also faced infant formula recalls and now tampon shortages.
Experts, nonprofit organizers and mothers have said governments often overlook women’s needs and that inequity is felt especially acute when women return to the workforce.
Day care centers charge between $1,200 and $1,400 per month for a single child. Mothers are paying between $50 and $60 for a single can of formula. Menstruating people who can’t find tampons use paper towels and napkins to absorb their periods.
“A lot of it also has to do with a lot of our legislators not having a period, never having a period, not having a period, and while this tampon shortage has been going on for quite some time, it’s just not the most important thing to so many legislators yet,” said Dana Marlowe, president of I Support the Girls, an organization that allocates bras and menstrual products to people who need them.
The New Jersey Legislature has introduced bills to address the child care crisis and period poverty, but without swift action, experts said many women may not be able to return to the workforce.
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Childcare Shortage
Johnson, a working mother of four, said most day care centers near her had long waiting lists or were too expensive to enroll her child in the programs, with the average center charging between $1,200 and $1,400 a month. She said the solution to the child care crisis is to make child care for children ages 0-3 free for all families.
The constant change of teachers in the nursery programs has affected their children because there is too much turnover. She said that children can also suffer from not attending day care because they are not learning and socializing.
“There’s this revolving door of teachers coming and going, which shocks them because they have to say goodbye to teachers that they’ve been with, so it can be an unstable environment for kids because of these constant changes,” Johnson said.
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Before the pandemic, Winifred Smith-Jenkins’ two child care centers were fully staffed and served about 200 children ages five and younger. Now, 13 of her classrooms are empty and she turns away families because she doesn’t have enough employees to staff the centers.
“I definitely think this is a direct effect of the pandemic, but childcare has been on the brink of collapse for a long time,” Smith-Jenkins said., Senior Director of Zadie’s Nurturing Den of the Oranges and Summit. “The pandemic didn’t push us over the edge but simply highlighted all the issues we’ve been wrestling with for decades.”
Women often bear the brunt of childcare responsibilities, with many sacrificing their careers. Nearly 10 percent of New Jersey women who are unemployed said they weren’t working because they were caring for children, compared to just 2.3 percent of men, according to one report. released in April by the Rutgers Center for Women and Work.
Since the start of the pandemic, 92 daycare centers have closed in New Jersey, according to the New Jersey Department of Children and Families.
The best solution moving forward is for the government to fund child care as a public good, like public schools, said Cynthia Rice, senior analyst at Advocates for Children of New Jersey. With tuition costs rising to pay teachers, fewer children can attend day care, which means fewer mothers can return to the workforce.
Companies should also look at how best to support their employees, especially women, by providing childcare assistance and more flexible working hours for parents. she said.
“The bottom line from all of this is that no matter how much money has been spent on the child care system since the start of the pandemic, the problems are not solved,” Rice said. “And I think it’s important to mention that the child care system really is the workforce behind the workforce, and we need to find ways to solve these problems, and that includes stronger state investment.”
infant formula crisis
Since the birth of her son three months ago, Francesca Mitchell has not known where her son’s next can of infant formula will come from.
Infant formula shortages continue to affect families across the country after Abbot Nutrition recalled several of its formula brands in February and closed the formula plant in Michigan. Mitchell’s son was born with a cow’s milk protein allergy, which means finding formula for him is even more difficult because he has reactions to most major brands.
“He’s just been insane and then on top of that, with the formula shortage, he hasn’t found a formula that works for him,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell said she uses Facebook groups to find which pharmacies and retailers have special formulas in stock, but some Facebook marketers have taken advantage of her. She said scammers Photoshopped images of formula cans into a post, and when she sent the money to buy them, the user blocked her from sending her any formula.
She said each can of formula lasts her son about two days and sells for between $26 and $60 each. Insurance doesn’t cover it.
“I have enough for two weeks and then I don’t know what to do from there because, first of all, I can’t afford the formula, it’s $50 to $60 a can right now,” Mitchell said. “And number two, I don’t even know what’s going to happen to him, how he’s going to react to that, so either way, you’re in a Catch 22.”
The Michigan formula plant reopened about two weeks ago but closed again due to flooding from the storms, and that will likely exacerbate the shortage.
Stores across the state and country were placing limits on the number of containers of formula anyone could buy as shelves remained nearly empty. Parents have created Facebook groups and other online forums to share which stores have formula in stock.
Lisa Pitz, deputy director of Hunger Free NJ, said mothers have approached food banks to see if they have formula, and mothers of children with special dietary needs have even more trouble finding the formula they need.
“However, low-income families are disproportionately affected by formula shortages, and WIC has taken some steps to improve access to formula as much as possible,” Pitz said in an email.
tampon shortage
Women and menstruating individuals face another supply chain crisis: tampon shortages caused by supply chain issues and staffing shortages. Nonprofits that collect donations of menstrual products said this shortage will hit low-income people who were already struggling to find and pay for tampons hard.
Marlowe, president of I Support the Girls, said she first heard in January that there would likely be a tampon shortage. The number of tampons the organization has been able to distribute dropped dramatically in 2022: 218,000 tampons compared to nearly 450,000 at this time in 2021.
She said many women who can’t afford to order menstrual products online or use reusable options, like menstrual cups and period underwear, may turn to unsanitary options, like torn sheets or toilet paper. This can prevent them from going to work or school, putting them at a disadvantage compared to their male counterparts.
“When people are marginalized or homeless, a lot of choice is eliminated, whether it’s the choice of how and when you know what you want to eat for dinner, or what clothes you want to wear because you could be whatever you want. of what is donated and people give to you on any given day,” Marlowe said. “So one of the things that all of us at I Support the Girls like to do is provide that choice in how you manage your health. menstrual”.
The New Jersey Senate inserted Legislation to reimburse school districts for supplying menstrual products in some public schools. The legislation was returned to the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee earlier this month.
Elise Joy, co-founder of Girls Helping Girls Period, said her organization and others like it are having trouble keeping tampons stocked, whereas before they rarely had a problem. She said many consumers have resorted to “panic buying,” which is making shortages worse because so many people are stockpiling tampons.
She said the shortage has highlighted the issues of menstrual poverty and she hopes the NJ Legislature can pass the bills to make menstrual products free in schools and more accessible to people with menstrual periods. The tampon shortage has forced people to realize how low-income families feel when they can’t get the products they need.
“The silver lining of this is that more people will be educated about period poverty and the need for us to find ways to support people in our society,” Joy said. “And one of the simplest things we can do is make menstrual products free for students and schools.”