There Are Complex Forces Keeping Women From Coming Back to Work Update RequiredTo play audio, update browser or Flash plugin. Katherine Gaines stands in front of her childhood home in Washington, D.C. She moved back in two years ago to help care for her mother, who has Alzheimer's disease. Andrea Hsu / NPR On the day in April 2020 that Valerie Mekki lost her job, she was scared to share the bad news with her children. So she hid in her room for 45 minutes. "I just didn't want to face them," says Mekki, who worked in fashion merchandising for more than 18 years and was the sole provider of health insurance for her family. "I had the shame and the guilt."