The Covid-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected working women. The additional labour and stress created by the pandemic has highlighted existing gender disparities and created additional challenges for women in the workforce. The same barriers that affected women’s employment prior to the pandemic are the barriers that cause this crisis to hit women harder than their male counterparts. With the rapid and difficult changes of the pandemic (a case study on which can be found here), women have been disproportionately affected.
According to Women in the Workplace 2020, the largest comprehensive study of the state of women in corporate America, conducted by McKinsey and Company, between 2015 and 2020 there was steady progress in women’s representation in the workforce but the pandemic is threatening to undo all of this work. During these years the share of women in SVP roles grew from 23 to 28 percent. But after a year of Covid-19, one in four women is now considering downshifting in their careers or even leaving the workforce entirely.
This shifting attitude is largely due to strain and overworking. Women are more often expected to carry the burden of emotional labour, household labour, and childcare. All three of these areas have increased in demand since the start of the pandemic and the bulk of this additional work has fallen on the shoulders of women.
During school closures, homeschooling and supervised remote learning are more often than not the responsibility of mothers. Additionally, there are a disproportionate number of women working in the childcare industry. With the increased demand and the overtime hours created by the pandemic, many childcare workers and mothers simply do not have enough energy and many are burning out.
The progress of women in the workforce is being put at risk by Covid-19. While it is common for economic issues to disproportionately affect female workers, Covid-19 has been particularly brutal. The pandemic has further emphasized existing disparities and forced many women to make very difficult career choices. By addressing these challenges, organizations can protect their employees and their businesses from the hardships that come alongside not only this crisis, but issues that may arise in the future.
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