Source page: McKinsey & Company
Commentary
Men think childcare is affordable. Women don’t.
North America | Economics
June 29, 2021 – When it comes to the affordability of childcare, men have a much rosier report. Our American Opportunity Survey unveiled that men with children at home were nearly 50 percent more likely than women to say that they could afford childcare. The differences are even more glaring between men and women in urban and rural areas.
To read the article, see “Unequal America: Ten insights on the state of economic opportunity,” May 26, 2021.
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Visual form
Multi-column dot-matrix comparison chart.
Layout / body structure
The chart is a single row of demographic columns, read left to right across All, Black, Hispanic and Latino, White, Asian American, Urban, Suburban, and Rural. Within each column the reader compares the upper men dot field against the lower women dot field, then uses the top and bottom numbers to confirm the size of the gap.
What is being compared
The chart compares the share of respondents who report childcare as affordable for men and women across multiple demographic groups and geographies.
Measurement system
The measurement is percent of respondents. Each column uses dense dot arrays to visualize the share, with the exact percentages printed above the men rows and below the women rows, such as 64 versus 43 overall and 75 versus 51 for urban respondents.
Visible structure inside the graphic
Every demographic column contains two stacked 100-dot style matrices: black dots for men in the upper half and blue dots for women in the lower half, with pale gray dots completing the remainder. The columns are separated by faint vertical dividers, and each demographic header sits above its paired dot fields.
Main takeaway from the visual
Men rate childcare affordability higher than women in every demographic shown, and the gap is visible in every column rather than in just one subgroup. The rural column looks especially wide, and even the narrowest-looking columns still keep women well below men.
Key standout values or extremes
Overall affordability is 64 percent for men versus 43 percent for women. The largest visible gap appears in rural respondents at 54 versus 32, while urban respondents show 75 versus 51; other large gaps include White respondents at 69 versus 42 and the All respondents column at 64 versus 43.
Controls / sequence, when applicable
This is a static chart image with no in-chart controls to operate.
Companion media, when applicable
There is no separate companion audio or video; the chart image is the full visual on this page.