Hollywood and big business are teaming up to get women back into the workforce.
Time’s Up, the advocacy group started by powerful women in entertainment to address sexual harassment and discrimination, has spearheaded the Care Economy Business Council, which was announced Wednesday, according to the New York Times.
The newly created coalition includes business players such as Uber, Spotify, Verizon, Ellevate and Thinx, along with about 200 other companies. According to the council’s website, it aims to address a pandemic-fueled crisis — to date, roughly 2.5 million women have dropped out of the labor landscape.
[Related: How Women Can Make a Comeback in the Workforce]
Once Covid hit, women had to make excruciating choices around homeschooling children, taking care of elderly relatives and juggling their own jobs and lives.
“Yet,” the council states, “our workplaces are not built to support the care we need at each stage of life.”
The coalition will devise new workplace policies that will hopefully entice women back to jobs, and it will pressure Congress to pass legislation around family and medical leave, affordable child and elder care and higher pay for those who work in caregiving fields.
[Related: ‘Mom Guilt’ Was Already a Thing. Then the Pandemic Made it Hell for Caregivers]
As part of President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan, which was signed into law in March, tax credits for parents with children were significantly expanded, and it also provided for an increase in subsidies for child care.
Vice President Kamala Harris called the exodus of women from the workforce a “national emergency” during a call with female leaders and executives before Biden’s aid bill passed. The crisis also prompted another group of women, led by Girls Who Code founder Reshma Saujani, to call for a “Marshall Plan for Moms” to provide working moms with a basic income.
[Related: Amy Schumer, Eva Longoria and More Famous Women Demand ‘Marshall Plan for Moms’]