Women, who have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic's economic chaos, are leaving the workforce in growing numbers, but if the tide can be reversed, according to Bloomberg, it could add $1.6 trillion to the national economy. That's if women enter and remain in the workforce at the same rate as Norway. Why this country? Because, like many other nations, it has generous child-care subsidies; conversely, despite being the world's largest economy, the United States ranks near the bottom in terms of child-care spending.

This is not happening, however. Instead, women are leaving the workforce, in large numbers, with the Women's National Law Center reporting that 865,000 did so in September alone, representing 80 percent of all job losses that month. Even if women are still working, many have cut back their hours, and therefore their income, as one study found that mothers scaled back their work hours by about 5 percent, or two hours per week, while fathers' work hours remained largely stable.

Bloomberg said that if women continue leaving the workforce at the rate they have been doing, the accumulated loss in wages would amount to $64.5 billion annually, which would likely dent consumer spending, and thus the economy as a whole.

Reshma Saujani, the founder of Girls Who Code, has called for all mothers to receive checks for $2,400 a month to help defray child care and other household costs, according to the Hill. She argued that such a plan would defray domestic costs such as child care and ultimately give women the support they need to return to work, thereby stimulating the economy. She added that the work women do around the house is largely unrecognized and that we should acknowledge the degree to which it enables activities that the economy does recognize.