SEPTEMBER NOTES & RESOURCES
Women in the Workforce
There is no question that women’s paid work has been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. Between February 2020 and February 2021, the National Women’s Law Center reported that over 2.3 million women left the labor force, whereas comparatively, 1.8 million men left the labor force in the same period. The women’s labor force participation rate fell from 57.9% to 55.9% since the beginning of 2020. While women comprise less than half of the US workforce, they formed the majority of labor force losses during the pandemic (53%).
This is largely associated with the type of jobs that women hold in the labor force: we hold the majority of the low-wage jobs in leisure and hospitality sectors, education and health services, retail, and state and government. When companies needed to cut costs in response to the pandemic, these positions were the first to go. Additionally, the mounting demands of childcare and other increases in household responsibilities led many more women to cut back on hours or leave their jobs entirely. In Deloitte Global’s new report Women @ Work: A Global Outlook, a survey of 5,000 women across 10 countries, 80% of women reported that their workloads increased during the pandemic, and 66% of women reported that they had increased responsibilities at home.
There are signs of growth, however. In May 2021, the National Women’s Law Center reported an uptick in job gains for women, accounting for 314,000 jobs, or 56.2% of total job gains across gender. However, they also estimated that the U.S. would need to see 13 straight months of employment growth for women in order to make up for all of the losses that accumulated since early 2020.
Here at WomenDo, we are committed to supporting women and their very real economic, psychological and social needs to gain and maintain employment. Re-entering the labor force in the face of the pandemic may seem daunting, especially after a sustained period of unemployment. That’s why this month, we’ve curated a list of amazing resources and organizations that support women in the workforce as well as those struggling with the work / family / pandemic balance.
Institute for Women's Policy Research
National Partnership for Women & Families