This recession is much different than others. For the first time, there are more women who are unemployed than men. Historically male jobs such as manufacturing has carried lower levels of stability while women favored sectors like health care, service work, and education. The women dominated fields offered stability. The fatal flaw is the contact-intensive working environments of these industries. This led to the lockdown and subsequent social distancing practices disproportionately hurt women; 2.9% more women become unemployed compared to men.
With more women feeling the pandemic’s economic pains, the she-cession will impact our communities differently than the previous man-cesssions (it is actually a real term!) Here’s a few ways that women will be impacted:
- Currently unemployed women will have decreased future earning opportunities. Historical data from previous recessions showed that people who lose their job during the downswing have a significant drop in earning power.
- The gender pay gap increase. Since the total number of unemployed women has increased, the average earnings of women in the overall economic has dropped.
- The expense of childcare. For many families and single parents, a large percent of their paycheck goes to childcare which leaves little room for protection to withstand long-term financial shock. When schools were closed during the pandemic, the role of teaching was hoisted upon families with most women taking on the additional responsibility.
- Long term recovery for us all. The impact of the pandemic will be amplified and the recovery long. As household spending is decreased from the initial shock of unemployment, auxiliary sectors are impacted in a second phase. This increases the “depth” of the economic effect; more people are facing economic hardships and competing for jobs. An oversupply of workers can lead to the decrease in price that an employer is willing to pay for the job.
This information is for general education purposes; this is not to be considered legal/ tax/ or financial advice.
References
Alon, T., & Doepke, M. (2020, September 22). The SHECESSION (she-recession) Of 2020: Causes and consequences. Retrieved April 16, 2021, from https://voxeu.org/article/shecession-she-recession-2020-causes-and-consequences.