Hochul calls remote learning a 'mistake' that took heavy toll on working women

Gov. Kathy Hochul said that remote learning during the pandemic was a "mistake" that especially affected working women.

Her remarks were made Friday at a Women's Equality Day celebration in Albany as she announced plans for the Labor Department to study Covid-19's impact on women.

"We're going to peel back every dynamic and let's look at not just in the workplace, but what happened to women when the decisions were made to have all the kids go home and learn remotely. Wow. Wow. What a mistaken that was. What a mistake that was," she said, according to a transcript by Gothamist reporter Jon Campbell who tweeted them out. "Women couldn't go their jobs. They lost their jobs, or they thought they're back at their jobs and one child in a classroom tests positive, the whole class goes home for a week and a half. It was chaos, nothing short of chaos, and it just seems to have not ended."

In March 2020, as Covid-19 swept across the globe, New York schools closed their doors and switched to remote learning for the rest of the school year, a jarring change for children and parents. When the 2020-21 school year began, some districts returned full time, but many had a hybrid model and most large school districts remained fully remote for months. .

Buffalo Public Schools was the last district in New York State to bring any students back into the classroom during the 2020-21 school year, holding a limited number of in-person classes Feb. 1, 2021 for the first time since the pandemic prompted schools to shut down in March 2020. 

Hochul, who was lieutenant governor at the time, became governor Aug. 24, 2021, after Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned amid a sexual harassment scandal.  

The 2021-22 school year was more normal yet parents still faced having to switch plans and find child care at a moment's notice if a child tested positive or was a close contact.

Throughout the pandemic, many parents, many of them mothers, juggled staying at home with their children while working remotely themselves or trying to find child care while continuing to work in person.

The study about the pandemic's impact on women in the workforce will look at data on the gender wage cap and the state's child care infrastructure. The Labor Department also plans to hold public meetings to collect expert testimony and public input, a statement from Hochul's office said.