Good Morning America/ABCNews.com
At the same time women face a gender pay gap where they earn around 80 cents for each dollar their male co-workers make, the costs of child care now exceed $20,000 per year in nearly two dozen states, according to Child Care Aware of America, a nonprofit organization that works to make child care in the U.S. high-quality and affordable.
Also not enough, advocates say, are the state policies that popped up to try to help child care centers during the pandemic.
"A lot of those were temporary fixes and may not be extended as states reopen," said Lynette Fraga, Ph.D., CEO of Child Care Aware of America. "There is no doubt that a federal solution is absolutely necessary, and a federal investment, supported by state solutions and state-by-state policies, that can raise up that federal solution."