COVID-19's Effect on Women in the Workplace

The COVID-19 Pandemic has had a terrible impact on the economy and the workforce with record unemployment rates. However, what we should highlight is that these unemployment rates are disproportionately higher for women, especially women of color.

From August to September, only one month, 865,000 women had to leave out of the workforce. According to a National Women's Law Center (NWLC) report, this number was four times higher than the 216,000 men that dropped out. Additionally, among these women, Black and Latina women are facing over an 11% unemployment rate, compared to 6.5% for white men (NWLC).

Emily Martin, vice president for education and workplace justice at NWLC - "As families across the country struggle to figure out how to keep their jobs while also making sure their children are cared for, safe and learning every day, it’s women who are being pushed out of work.”

Because of the caregiving crisis occurring in the U.S., families must make sacrifices to take care of their children, and women are bearing the brunt of them. Lean In, founded by Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, highlights that women are three times more likely than fathers to be responsible for childcare and housework, resulting in essentially a "double shift." Due to schools being closed and children having to stay home, this double shift has been amplified; 1 in 4 women are considering leaving or downsizing their careers.

This female recession will have more long-term impacts and has erased more than a decade's worth of women's progress in the labor force. Despite all of these challenges, though, there is hope for the future. The number of women graduating from college has steadily increased over the past few decades, and, eventually, students will be able to go back to school.

There is a lot of work to be done, but we've done it before. We can do it again.