Jessica Calarco — Why Women Are America’s Safety Net: The Hidden Cost of Caregiving

Jessica Calarco is a Sociologist and Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is an award-winning teacher, a leading expert on inequalities in family life and education, and the author of Holding it Together: How Women Became America’s Safety Net.  In this episode, I talk with Jessica about how the U.S. relies on women as an unofficial safety net, burdening them with unpaid and underpaid caregiving roles. We discuss the myths of meritocracy, societal inequalities, and the structural forces pushing women into precarious labor. Jessica also highlights care’s transformative potential, showing how collective care policies could alleviate inequality and foster solidarity. It’s an eye-opening conversation on systemic issues and solutions that prioritize dignity, opportunity, and shared responsibility for all. In this episode: (00:00) - Intro (02:05) - Jessica's background and early lessons on money and entrepreneurship (05:20) - The research behind 'Holding It Together' (06:35) - How COVID-19 impacted mothers (07:36) - Statistics on gender inequality in caregiving (08:48) - The historical context of the US social safety net (09:37) - The role of wealthy business owners (11:20) - Gender dynamics in caregiving (13:10) - How a weak social safety net impacts women (17:47) - Cultural differences and gender roles (19:08) - The false promises of meritocracy (22:21) - Why hard work doesn’t guarantee success (24:28) - Building a better social safety net (28:54) - Are big corporations to blame? (32:36) - How government and legislation create a precarious workforce (37:24) - A brighter future for America's overburdened workforce (41:08) - Jessica's takeaways   Get full show notes and links at https://mindful.money.  Watch the episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MindfulMoney.