COVID-19’s created an economic burden for women, who do most of the child care while still working. That’s according to nonprofit Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice, which says the lockdown forced many mothers to shoulder a disproportionate share of day care, home schooling, and housework; about three in 10 women have keiki at home. They’re doing this all while working part- or full-time themselves.

Women’s finances and health are more at risk, too. Hawaiʻi Appleseed says women are nearly two-thirds of Hawaiʻi’s frontline workers, yet are more likely to get laid off because those jobs are in industries like retail, food service and child care. Senior policy analyst Nicole Woo adds, “At the same time they’re hit hard by the unemployment crisis because they’re concentrated in restaurants and hotels,” says Woo.

“There’s tons of data showing women still have to do more of the housework, and through the generations, women are burdened by more responsibilities at home, even when they’re working full-time. This pandemic has just brought that into sharper focus,” Woo continues.

She and her peers now warn that the reopening of many workplaces may cause a new set of problems. The lack of child care options—with day care centers limited in how many kids they can watch—may force women out of the labor force to take care of their children.