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>As I said elsewhere in the message that you're replying to, in my view, the big issue here is that the US doesn't have paid parental leave.

I'm suspicious when anyone says "the big issue is"
There are many forces at work here.

One issue is that people, rightly or wrongly, have decided that two incomes are necessary.
I think that's sometimes- but not always- wrong.
I see lots of upper-middle class families with two working parents where one could easily stay home. Those people in the work force who don't need to be there are depressing incomes.

Another issue is that some women have decided that women who stay home so that husbands can pursue a career are somehow victims.
Those same women speak admiringly of men who stay at home so that their wives can pursue a career.
Right or wrong, that's a social, not an economic, decision.

Finally real incomes have been declining steadily during the past several decades while some costs - e.g. health care and education have skyrocketed, so that in many cases two incomes are not even adequate to pay all the bills.
I see that in my children's generation. They and their friends are successful by any reasonable measurement, but their standard of living is far below that of equivalent people who lived on one income when I was their age and they are not able to fund their retirements they way my generation could.
Parental leave is a band-aid, but unless we address the issue of declining real incomes, Donald Trump will look like a flaming liberal compared to the people who will be coming to power here.