The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified families’ struggles to reconcile caregiving and employment, especially for working mothers. How have different countries reacted to these troubling circumstances? What policies have been implemented to alleviate the pernicious effects of the pandemic on gender and labor inequalities? We examine the policies offered in Denmark, Germany, and the United States, three countries that represent distinct welfare regimes. We find important differences among the policy solutions provided, but also in the “cultural infrastructures” that allow policies to work as intended, or not. In Denmark, a social-democratic welfare state, robust federal salary guarantee programs supplemented an already strong social safety net. The country was among the first to lock down and reorganize health care—and also among the first to reopen schools and child care facilities, acknowledging that parents’ employment depends on child care provisioning, especially for mothers. Germany, a corporatist regime, substantially expanded existing programs and provided generous subsidies. However, despite an ongoing official commitment to reduce gender inequality, the cultural legacy of a father breadwinner/mother caregiver family model meant that reopening child care facilities was not a first priority, which pushed many mothers out of paid work. In the U.S. liberal regime, private organizations—particularly in privileged economic sectors—are the ones primarily offering supports to working parents. Patchwork efforts at lockdown and reopening have meant a lengthy period of limbo for working families, with disastrous consequences for women, especially the most vulnerable. Among such varied “solutions” to the consequences of the pandemic, those of liberal regimes seem to be worsening inequalities. The unprecedented nature of the current pandemic recession suggests a need for scholars to gender the study of economic crises.

COVID-19 大流行加剧了家庭在兼顾照顾和就业方面的困难，尤其是对于职业母亲而言。不同国家对这些令人不安的情况有何反应？已经实施了哪些政策来减轻这一流行病对性别和劳动力不平等的有害影响？我们研究了丹麦、德国和美国这三个代表不同福利制度的国家提供的政策。我们发现所提供的政策解决方案之间存在重要差异，而且在允许政策按预期发挥作用或不发挥预期作用的“文化基础设施”方面也存在显着差异。在丹麦这个社会民主福利国家，强有力的联邦工资保障计划补充了本已强大的社会安全网。该国是最早封锁和重组医疗保健的国家之一，也是最早重新开放学校和儿童保育设施的国家之一，该国承认父母的就业取决于儿童保育服务，尤其是母亲的儿童保育服务。德国是一个社团主义政权，大幅扩大了现有计划并提供了慷慨的补贴。然而，尽管官方一直致力于减少性别不平等，但父亲养家糊口/母亲照顾家庭模式的文化遗产意味着重新开放托儿设施并不是首要任务，这导致许多母亲失业。在美国的自由主义政权中，私人组织（尤其是特权经济部门的私人组织）是主要为在职父母提供支持的组织。封锁和重新开放的拼凑努力意味着工薪家庭将长期陷入困境，给女性，尤其是最弱势群体带来灾难性后果。 在应对疫情后果的各种“解决方案”中，自由主义政权的解决方案似乎正在加剧不平等。当前大流行性衰退的前所未有的性质表明，学者们有必要对经济危机进行性别研究。