POLITICO’s Megan Cassella is out with an urgent report this week on the challenges of getting millions of women back into the workforce after the pandemic. Some women were laid off during pandemic-related shutdowns, but for many others, Covid-19 exacerbated and revealed existing stresses in the lives of women and caregivers in particular, including a lack of childcare support and long hours that left them unable to fulfill their other obligations. “Overall, 57.5 percent of women aged 20 and older were participating in the U.S. labor force in June — down from 59.2 percent in February 2020,” Cassella writes, “and a level that, even after months of improvement, is still the lowest in more than 30 years.”

Can we fix this? Yes, and Cassella outlines a few ways that lawmakers and companies can make the return to work easier for American women, including big investments in childcare and more permanent workplace flexibility, respectively. And there might even be some cause for optimism; Claudia Goldin, a Harvard economist and expert on women in the labor force, told Cassella that a more flexible workplace could fix some inequities in the workplace that existed before Covid. If business transactions like a big merger or acquisition in Tokyo can now be done remotely, Goldin said, “women can take those jobs.”

Cassella’s article, like any good one, left me with a lot of questions. I spoke with her about some of them, and came away with a sense that women dropping out of the workforce during the pandemic is actually a decades-long trend and has as much to do with socioeconomic inequality as it does with gender inequality.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Katelyn Fossett: Are you glad to have the piece out there in the world? It seemed like you did quite a bit of reporting for it.

Megan Cassella: Yeah, I’ve been working on it for a while. I wrote the pitch for it in early June. And I started reaching out to women maybe a month ago. So it was kind of a long process.

I finished one draft that actually had Sabreena at the top, who was the lower-income woman lower in the story with the baby, and then I ended up flipping it to lead with a higher-income woman. We flipped it because we decided there was less attention on how this was really a problem that ranged the income spectrum. And while childcare is a big part of it, that’s not the only part of it, and some of this is actually choice and it’s coming from women who are able to not work. And so they could end up being a bigger part of the problem if women's labor force participation stays low.

Lower-income women are dominating the conversation right now because their situations are so much more dire, and they’re the ones that would be the most helped by federal policy. Childcare policy is one way to make it less expensive, or paid leave—they’re really the ones who need the help the most. And if they aren’t able to make it back into the workforce, there are really severe effects for them to long-term unemployment. And that’s a very acute problem, but one that could be fixed with the right interventions. Or at least that’s the hope.

Higher-income women, I think, are a different story. So many people I talked to said low-income women are going to come back to work because they have to, because it's just too expensive in this country for a family to live on one income. But on the higher-income side, they actually have a choice, and it’s much more often the mother who gives up work. And so those are sort of the decisions that could be longer-lasting. They start by choice, but then it's burnout or it’s, my kids need help, or that sort of thing.

Fossett: That’s super interesting. So if one-income families become more common after the pandemic, it's going to be wealthier, better-educated, whiter people driving that.

Cassella: One of the things I was most surprised by was how those wealthier and well-educated women who are predominantly white have mostly been the reason that women’s labor force participation plateaued around 2000. The way it was explained to me was that those wealthier, well-educated women tend to be married to wealthy well-educated men whose incomes have been rising the fastest. And it’s not even the very top; it’s like the top 20 percent or so.

So as those men have started earning more, women have been able to drop out. Their incomes aren’t necessary. They can live relatively comfortable and lavish lifestyles without working. And so those are the ones who have decided to stay at home with their kids in higher numbers since the early 2000s when income inequality really started rising.

Fossett: Oh, interesting. So it’s also a function of rising income inequality; that makes sense.

There’s some optimism from experts in your piece that moving to a more flexible workplace could help women. Was there anyone that you talked to who was worried that we might have a situation where workplaces become mostly male places and that going to the office still remains an advantage in getting promotions and raises, and so women become less likely to advance as a result?

Cassella: There’s definitely concern about that. And it didn't come up specifically in the interviews for this story, but just in reporting and being on the street and talking to people, that’s a real concern about the way the policies are structured. If you’re an employer and you just make it optional and say, come in when you want to, there’s a lot of concern that it’s men who are going to want to. They can get away from their kids and they go in and, as you said, they get the face time with the boss. So the concern is that if it becomes a boys’ club in the office, then those are the people who will get promoted, and who are more often thought of for the bigger job or the trip.

I will say that Claudia Goldin, who I quote in the bottom half of the article, is really bullish that as long as flexibility costs are reduced, no matter what, women will benefit from it. And she thinks that there’s not going to be a drawback to this optional policy because women can now take jobs that they never considered before because they couldn’t travel as much, for instance. So you’re definitely right that there’s some concern about that. But I think on balance, a lot of people are optimistic that the benefits would outweigh those concerns.

Good afternoon, and thanks for stopping by! Women Rule stands with the Norwegian beach handball team, even if I had to look up what handball is. Thank you to Maya Parthasarathy, who puts together the reads and recommendations in this newsletter and makes it a much more fun place.

DON’T MISS -- Next week: Game-Changers: Women Powering Entertainment & Sports: From concerts to movies and sporting events, COVID took a massive toll on the entertainment and sports industries. As the summer movie season kicks into full gear, concerts make their way back and crowds fill sports stadiums, we will talk to the women powering entertainment and sports. Join POLITICO Women Rule editor Elizabeth Ralph on Wednesday, July 28, at 12 PM ET for a conversation with women leading the way forward in movies, television, live entertainment, the arts and sports on lessons learned from the pandemic upheaval to these industries and what it means for the long-haul. Register here to watch live.

Next month, we’re hosting a Zoom conversation with POLITICO economics reporter Megan Cassella (who we spoke to at the top of this newsletter) along with a small group of engaged readers to talk about women leaving the workforce during the pandemic and how to get them back. Fill out this form to request an invite.

“Senate Democrats propose requiring women to register for military draft,” by Burgess Everett and Connor O’Brien in POLITICO: “Senate Democrats are proposing a sweeping rewrite of the military draft laws aimed at requiring women to register for the Selective Service System, according to a draft authored by Senate Armed Services Chair Jack Reed and obtained by POLITICO.

“The changes to Selective Service could be attached to the National Defense Authorization Act, a defense policy bill that’s one of the few pieces of legislation considered a “must-pass” by Congress. The move would reignite a contentious debate over whether women should be required to register for the draft, a move the House and Senate have each considered in recent years, though the change has never become law.”

“Military sex assault reform stalled as Dems push for racial justice in the ranks,” by POLITICO’s Sarah Ferris, Nicholas Wu and Connor O’Brien: “Democrats are scrambling to find a path forward to reforming the military justice system, as lawmakers split over the best way to address serious crimes — primarily sexual assault — within the ranks and tackle racial disparities in military courts.

“House Armed Services Committee Democratic members disagree on a central tenet of the bill — removing commanders' authority to prosecute all serious crimes, beyond just sexual assault. Proponents of that change, such as Reps. Anthony Brown (D-Md.) and Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), say it would be a much-needed reform for U.S. service members of color, who have long faced disproportionate consequences in military courts.

‘If you are a young black airman, you are twice as likely to be sent to court martial for the same offense conducted by a white airman,’ Brown, who is Black and a 30-year Army veteran, told members in a closed-door caucus meeting, according to people listening. Now is the time for Congress to step up.’ …

‘I think there was a strong argument for making it a broader bill. There's also a concern among many fellow Democrats that they don't want the whole thing to sink,’ Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) said. ‘It's most important to pass something than to pass it all at once.’”

Read more.

“Amazon Denied a Worker Pregnancy Accommodations. Then She Miscarried,” by Lauren Kaori Gurley in Vice: “In the weeks before [she miscarried], Patty Hernandez had pleaded repeatedly with her manager and the warehouse's human resources for lighter duty, and submitted a doctor's note to Amazon's human resources requesting pregnancy accommodations. The note, which was obtained by Motherboard, said no lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying more than 20 pounds, and no walking or standing for more than 50 percent of her shift.

“As a packer, the last person in an Amazon warehouse to handle Amazon packages before they're loaded onto trucks, Hernandez's job was to lift yellow bins filled with merchandise that weighed up to 50 pounds off conveyor belts on 10-hour shifts. …

“Amazon's human resources denied Hernandez's doctor's note, according to Hernandez, who said the denial was communicated verbally by a human resources rep. ‘[HR] just told me there was no specific area for light work that wouldn't require over 15 pounds of lifting, or for me to be off my feet,’ she said.

“The Centers for Disease Control says that repeated heavy lifting, standing on your feet for long hours, and repeated bending at the waist can increase the chance of miscarriage for pregnant workers.”

“‘Weaponization of the Liberty Way:’ LU punishes women reporting sex assaults, lawsuit says,” by Cynthia Beasley on WSET: “A 15-year-old reported being sexually assaulted at a Liberty University camp, according to a lawsuit, but university police blamed her for violating the ‘Liberty Way’ and needlessly had her strip naked and spread her butt cheeks for a photograph.

“The lawsuit, filed Tuesday morning in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, says that during the 2000 incident, Liberty threatened to charge the teenager with filing a false report, made her ride in a police car with her alleged attacker and questioned her without water or food for eight hours — all while failing to properly investigate her alleged attacker: Jesse Matthew, Jr., who went on to murder two college students years later.

“In advance of being filed, the lawsuit was provided to ABC13’s Cynthia Beasley, who has been investigating for a year-and-a-half allegations that Liberty University violated Title IX rules, repeatedly threatened victims with honor code violations and downplayed sexual assault allegations.

“Twelve anonymous women, all of whom are former Liberty University employees or students, have signed onto the lawsuit that claims the university ‘enabled on-campus rapes‘ and suppressed complaints of sexual assault and rape.”

THE HEALTH BEAT -- “Do we really need special workplace protections for menopause?” by Kathleen Parker via the Washington Post … “Patients are warned that IUDs can be ‘uncomfortable.’ But many say the pain is excruciating,” by Caroline Kitchener via the Lily

From “Meet Wally Funk, the 82-year-old pilot who just went to space with Jeff Bezos.” Read more.

READ: “Afghanistan’s Only All-Girls Boarding School Fears the Return of the Taliban,” with Dorothy Wickenden in the New Yorker

“I Tried to Live Off Women-Owned Businesses. Turns Out, Men Still Run Everything,” via Time Magazine. ... “This unit of Black women made history in World War II. They’re finally getting broader recognition,” via The Lily. ... “A Women's Beach Handball Team Is Fined For Not Wanting To Wear Bikini Bottoms,” via NPR

LISTEN: Clairo is out with a new album, with lyrics that ruminate on gender- and age-related power dynamics in the music industry. Writes Pitchfork: "Here is another young woman whose trust has been abused by an older man, and who is so hungry to be validated that she’ll risk being sexualized again: 'If touch could make them hear, then touch me now.'"

Willow has a new pop-punk album out, too, and it features everyone from Travis Barker to Tierra Whack to Avril Lavigne.

Maria Douglas Reeve, managing editor of the Houston Chronicle since November 2019, has been named the newspaper’s top editor. … Rashida Richardson is now a senior policy adviser for data and democracy for the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy. She previously was a senior fellow for digital innovation and democracy at the German Marshall Fund. … Nadine Nally is now the director for defense innovation and cyber policy at the National Security Council. She recently graduated from the Eisenhower School. …

Jessica Medeiros Garrison has been named vice president of government affairs for facial recognition company Clearview AI. ... Yasmin Radjy is now senior adviser for recovery program outreach at the Treasury Department. She previously was national political director at Planned Parenthood Action Fund. (h/t Playbook)