Gender inequality is both a cause and a consequence of the pervasive imbalance in the division of unpaid care and household labor in the United States. Traditional gender norms hold that a woman’s role is in the home taking care of children, while that of a man’s is to be the breadwinner and family protector. Although we hear echoes of this traditional view in current political and social media debates, the vast majority of adults in the United States hold more egalitarian views of gender roles.

But there is a wide gulf between our ideals and our realities, as we have seen in this report on how Americans divide the work of taking care of home and family. One reason for the persistence of these gender disparities is that the U.S. has failed to modernize its public policies to fit 21st century economic realities. Even though 78% of American women are in the labor force, the nation’s social infrastructure is still largely premised on the assumption that mothers will be at home with children.

Consider the work of raising children in the United States. Every high-income nation in the world provides for paid leave for new parents—except the United States. Most provide ample financial and institutional support for childcare and preschool. Our peers devote a substantial share of public spending to family benefits, but the U.S. invests only minimally in supporting families. For instance, family benefits account for 2.4% of GDP in Germany compared to 0.6% in the United States.

A year of childcare in many states in America costs as much as a year of college. In many communities, there are not enough spots in childcare for all parents who want or need it. Even when young children enter school, typical American school hours are grossly misaligned with the workday, forcing families to either spend money on after school care or reduce their work hours.

The lack of public support for child-rearing, in turn, compels families to make hard decisions about how to balance the family budget. It is often a rational economic decision for one parent to step away from paid work to care for children rather than pay for childcare. And because women tend to have lower earnings, they are more likely to be the one within a couple to make this trade-off between paid employment and caregiving.

Such understandable responses by families to America’s inadequate social infrastructure often further entrench gender inequality and its harmful effects on women. When women reduce their hours or leave the labor force to care for children, they lose out on valuable economic opportunities. The gender pay gap widens when women become mothers. Women who take time out of the labor force end up with lower Social Security retirement benefits. Women are more likely than men to be part-time workers; part-time workers typically earn less and are not eligible for employee benefits like health insurance and retirement. According to one analysis, by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, additional time spent on household and care work was associated with a decrease in women’s weekly earnings, when controlling for other factors. In other words, time inequality itself reinforces and perpetuates gender inequality.

Public policy alone will not entirely eliminate these deeply rooted gender disparities. Cultural change is needed too. But smart policy can nudge along positive behavioral change that ultimately advances equity and equality. For example, several countries include mechanisms in their family policy to encourage fathers to take paid parent leave. Many Nordic nations have a ‘use it or lose it’ provision for fathers. Other countries, like Canada, provide extra paid weeks of leave to families if both parents use the time. A host of benefits redound to everyone when fathers take leave and spend more time with their children. Many nations provide caregiving credits in their public pension systems, so that women’s retirement benefits keep pace with men’s.