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It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a woman with a family and a career is in want of more hours in the day. However, despite this, typically conversations around gender inequity at work focus on a pay gap, rather than the consequences of what happens when women don\u2019t have as much time as their male counterparts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In a new study published in the International Journal of Management Reviews<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>researchers analyzed 88 studies on the interaction between \u201cgender, time, and organizations\u201d in Africa. The researchers wanted to spotlight African organizations to understand how caregiving and other cultural expectations play out at work.<\/p>\n They found that the unpaid labor women do at home creates a hidden time gap that limits their ability to get ahead at work\u2014which in turn impacts training, networking, and taking on the projects at work that get you promoted.<\/p>\n While the analysis focuses on Africa, the researchers explained that similar patterns exist all over the world. Outside of work, women do more of the unpaid domestic work, and they are expected to contribute more to their social lives<\/a>. \u201cWomen are not falling behind because they lack ambition or ability. They are falling behind because they are carrying a second shift that workplaces still largely ignore. If we want real inclusion, we have to stop designing jobs around the assumption that everyone has unlimited time,\u201d said professor Toyin Adisa at the University of East London, one of the study\u2019s authors.<\/p>\n Solving the time issue will take exactly that\u2014time. Professor Toyin Adisa\u00a0 said, \u201cIf we are serious about inclusion, we cannot rely on small policy tweaks. We have to rethink how work is organized and how care is valued across society.\u201d The study\u00a0 offered some suggestions for how to even the playing field: most notably, better childcare support options.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The need for better childcare holds true in America as well. According to a 2026 Care.com study<\/a>, parents in the U.S. spend 20% or more of their yearly income on childcare costs and31% are forced to use their savings to cover the expense.<\/p>\n Similarly, a 2025 Economic Policy Institute (EPI) report<\/a> found that childcare for one infant is more expensive than public college tuition in 38 states and Washington D.C. \u201cChild care is unaffordable for working families everywhere in the country, and it\u2019s even more unattainable for minimum wage workers and the very workers that administer child care,\u201d Katherine deCourcy, EPI research assistant, said in a press release on the findings. \u201cThis isn\u2019t inevitable\u2014it is a policy choice. Federal and state policymakers can and should act to make child care more affordable, and ensure that child care workers can afford the same quality of care for their own children.\u201d<\/p>\n While most parents (85%) say that childcare is an essential workplace benefit, one in three employers do not offer it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Regardless of how desperate families are for more affordable childcare and how much it could impact women\u2019s career prospects it still seems out of reach in the U.S. On Wednesday, Trump told guests<\/a> at an Easter event that the federal government won\u2019t pay for childcare and that it should be left up to the states. \u201cWe can\u2019t take care of daycare. We\u2019re a big country. We have 50 states. We have all these other people,\u201d Trump said. \u201cWe\u2019re fighting wars. We can\u2019t take care of daycare.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n