Loeta

Loeta is a dentist and a mother of two. While she was earning her dental degree, she commuted from Chico to San Francisco – 3 hours each way – staying in an apartment in the city during the week. She kept up with everything happening at home via FaceTime, even "attending" family dinner night with her Peruvian-American parents and brother and helping her kids with their homework.

Saturday morning she'd leave the city at 3:30am, returning home on time to make it to the kids' soccer and 4-H events. After Loeta earned her dental degree, she returned home to Chico and bought the practice where she began as a dental assistant at age 16.

It’s impossible to “do it all,” of course, but as a woman the cost of not trying is huge. Data from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research shows that over a 15-year period, women who took just one year off work earned a massive 39 percent less than women who did not take time off. ¹

In the sculpture of her hours, Loeta’s paid work hours are represented by gold-leafed pieces and her unpaid work hours by silver-leafed pieces. Waking hours when Loeta was doing anything other than work are represented by empty spaces.

¹ IWPR, Still a Man’s Labor Market: The Slowly Narrowing Gender Wage Gap (2018)