The pandemic’s enduring impact on working women

Today is Women’s Equality Day, so we’re checking in with experts on how the pandemic is affecting efforts to bring women to parity at work. Have ideas about what we should discuss next week? Let me know in the comments using #WorkingTogether or email me at [email protected]. 

The coronavirus pandemic has exacted a massive toll on workers across the world. And, by many measures, women have faced the brunt of this crisis.

At the height of the pandemic, women in the U.S. lost more jobs than men. And those that continued to work were more likely to hold essential positions where they were susceptible to contracting the virus. Meanwhile, women who were permitted to work from home through the pandemic saw their share of unpaid labor — household chores and childcare responsibilities — skyrocket, making it challenging for them to focus fully on work.

As companies transition from short-term to long-term pandemic solutions, I wanted to check in with experts who have been tracking gender disparities prior to the crisis and now. Earlier this week, I sat down with McKinsey’s Anu Madgavkar and Mekala Krishnan to get a better sense of where we stand on these issues. 

You can check out our full conversation above, but here are a few key insights:

In the COVID-19 economy, women’s jobs are 1.8 times more vulnerable. 

Hospitality, retail and food service were among the hardest hit sectors during the pandemic and women account for a disproportionate share of these workers. More women than men lost their jobs during the pandemic and are having a hard time finding other opportunities as the crisis drags on. 

But this just explains a small part of the problem, the rest has to do with unpaid labor.

Roughly 75% of the world’s unpaid labor — household work and childcare — is done by women. So, in a global pandemic that has shuttered schools and forced many knowledge workers to work from home, women face a disproportionate share of the burden. Yes, the promise of flexible work may pay dividends for working mothers. Many have been asking for this arrangement for some time. But remote work arrangements could end up placing additional burdens on women, notes Krishnan. 

“Companies are really starting to think about their role beyond their four walls,” added Madgavkar. “When we think about balancing things like childcare, a lot of that has to do with rethinking whose responsibility that is, and we at least need to start having more of a conversation around how do we change attitudes about rules in the home versus rules in the workplace and make this burden that we keep referring to actually one that is shared appropriately between both men and women.” 

And when jobs are scarce — like now — many think they should go to men.

In developing countries, more than half of respondents in a recent survey conducted by the World Value Surve said that during a crisis men should have better access to employment. In more affluent countries, about one in five respondents said the same thing. Past studies have shown that board appointments of women tend to slow down during a crisis, said Madgavkar. 

Why? During crises, bias gains favor.

“Some of those biases tend to take over in times of crisis,” said Madgavkar. “Women, even in a remote work context, actually find it a little harder to do things like the informal networking and stuff like that, which is actually quite important to reinforce your softer power or softer networks in an organization.” 

Amid the crisis, some companies question if they should invest in diverse teams.

Some senior leaders see diversity efforts as a key lever that will help their companies weather this crisis. Others believe that day-to-day business operations must be the priority, relegating diversity and inclusion efforts to the back burner, according to prior research from McKinsey. But as this crisis continues, the best companies must consider how they are building equitable institutions if they are going to survive, said Krishnan. 

“If you think about resilience and recovery from this crisis, it's almost like you can't afford not to,” she added. 

Economic growth is at stake if they don’t. 

If companies do nothing to tackle gender parity in the workplace, global GDP in 2030 could be reduced by $1 trillion, according to McKinsey’s research. However if gender equality is addressed across the world, GDP could go up by $13 trillion in the same time frame. Some 230 million women globally would be working in 2030 if we make inroads on supporting women at work. If nothing happens, 30 million women will drop out of the workforce entirely, McKinsey estimates. 

“This really matters to global prosperity,” said Madgavkar. “And it really matters actually to women's families as well, because there are a host of other benefits to families and societies of women who are successful and thrive in the workplace.” 

What’s Working 

A first at Amazon. Alicia Boler Davis, Amazon’s vice president of global customer fulfillment, became the first Black executive to join CEO Jeff Bezos’s senior management team. Davis was an executive vice president at General Motors prior to joining Amazon last year. [Fast Company]

$2 million in a crisis. Amid juggling childcare and being diagnosed with coronavirus herself, Tiffany Dufu, the founder and CEO of The Cru, closed on a $2 million round of seed funding for her women’s networking startup. The round is striking because just 26% of female founders say they have at least 12 months of runway during the pandemic, compared to 38% of male founders. That figure plummets to 19% for female founders of color, according to new data from All Raise. [Forbes] 

What’s Not

The ‘mythology of meritocracy.’ Carlos Watson, the CEO of OZY Media, recounts how, as a Black American, his parents instilled in him at a young age that he needed to work twice or three times as hard just to get as far as his peers. “I told them that it’s not twice as hard to succeed as non-Blacks; it’s literally a hundred times as hard,” he told Adam Bryant. [LinkedIn] 

Who’s Pushing Us Forward 

Active allyship in 2020. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to sit down on Friday, August 28th at 12ET with three leaders across industries pushing the conversation forward on active allyship in the workplace. The conversation is part of Sallie Krawcheck’s Ellevate Network’s Mobilize Week. Join us live here. 

What topics do you want to discuss next time? Let me know in the comments below using #WorkingTogether