Caregivers de los Niños
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) discovered that parents are currently spending approximately $42 billion on early child care and education. However, it can be challenging for those working more than one job and/or with irregular hours to find care.
Childcare providers are also suffering from financial hardship, and they are barely making enough to scrape by themselves. EPI reported that “the vast majority (91.5%) of domestic workers are women and just over half (52.4%) are black, Hispanic, or Asian American/Pacific Islander women…[and] on average are paid just 74 cents for every dollar that their peers make.”
Caregivers de los Viejitos
NPR reported approximately 40 million people in the United States are considered family caregivers and caretakers. In addition, there are about 10 million Americans between ages 18 and 34 currently caring for an older relative or loved one. And that number is significant within the Latino population. For example, 27% of Millennial family caregivers are Hispanic/Latino, and more than half are people of color, according to a study conducted by the AARP Public Policy Institute.
A 2016 Pew Research report showcased the number of multigenerational households in the U.S. increased to 20% of the U.S. population (about 64 million people), an all-time high. And that growth is attributed mainly to the rising population of Hispanics in the U.S. Among Hispanics living in the U.S., 27% lived with multiple generations of family members.
In addition, more Latinos are aging and making up the senior demographic in this country.
A Documentary that Shines Light on Caregivers
Director of Through the Night, Afro-Latina Loira Limbal, states, “The film is a love letter to single mothers and caregivers. It elevates the voices and stories of women of color who are often invisibilized or pushed into the margins of our society.”
The documentary premiered at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival. Created by an all-women-of-color crew, Through the Night tells the story “of three working mothers whose lives all intersect at a 24-hour daycare center: a mother working the overnight shift as an essential worker at a hospital; another holding down three jobs just to support her family; and a woman who for over two decades has cared for the children of parents with nowhere else to turn.”
The film encompasses the multiple facets of “women’s work,” whether paid, unpaid, or underpaid; emotional or physical labor; and in or out of the home.