EDITORS:

The following story has moved as this week's Sunday Spotlight, a feature showcasing the best off-the-news enterprise in the AP report:

VIRUS OUTBREAK-WORKING MOTHERS

NEW YORK — Angela Wynn had just launched her own business, hitting a career stride after years of struggle that began with a undergraduate degree earned as a single mother. Then the coronavirus pandemic hit. With schools closed, the now-married mother of five saw little choice but to give up her business to help guide her children through distance learning. Research is increasingly pointing to a retreat of working mothers from the U.S. labor force as the pandemic leaves parents with few child care options and the added burden of navigating distance learning. The trend threatens the financial stability of families in the near-term. In the long-term, the crisis could stall — if not reverse — decades of hard-fought gains by working women who are still far from achieving labor force parity with men. By Alexandra Olson and Cathy Bussewitz. SENT: 1,300 words, photos.

—The AP