- Credits:
- Photo: Financial Times
Helen’s Place LLC Update: August 4, 2022
Reflecting back almost four years ago to our October 31, 2018 article about women in the workforce, we wrote:
“Because society has progressed too far, and women have made too many advances toward equality in the workplace, it’s highly unlikely that women will lose all of what’s been gained, but the ground may feel uneven for a while.”
Fast forward to 2022, and it’s apparent that when Covid-19 struck in 2020, everything darkened in America, and the rug was pulled out from under the progress women had made. Workforce equality gains were wiped out.
But something else happened that was more important than workforce equality — women showed strength and resilience in astonishing ways. Many put their careers on hold and put their children, family, and community first. They dealt with the pandemic with determination to do their best to get through it.
Some of the decisions women had to make were agonizing, such as how to educate kids from home during lockdowns. Millions of women were forced to drop out of the labor market when schools and daycare centers closed.
Today, many pandemic issues are still unresolved as Covid-19 lingers, and even though life has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, Covid-19 vaccines and treatments have helped some women return to the workforce. Some of the caregivers, first responders, and other essential workers never left.
Other women, who were fortunate to keep their jobs during the pandemic and worked from home may continue to do so, return to the workplace, or a hybrid of both. The trend to find legitimate, well paid jobs online will continue, as well as the trend to improve skills through online education that could lead to a better job.
Hopefully, these bright spots for women in the workforce will continue far into the future.
It would be naïve to say that women are back on track to return to where they were in 2018. Unfortunately, there are issues derailing them from doing so:
- For starters, another variant of Covid-19 has emerged – BA-5; reminding women that they could still getCovid-19, and potentially ruin their health, possibly permanently. Already, thousands of women are suffering from Long-Covid, which has limited their ability to work.
- Another virus, Monkeypox, is now spreading across the U.S. and could affect women in the workforce. It’s too soon to know.
- Childcare has remained too expensive and scarce for some parents, leading to an increase in poverty.The child tax credit which helped pay for childcare expenses and pulled millions of families out of poverty, expired on December 31, 2021, after Congress failed to pass the “Build Back Better” bill with provisions to renew it.
- The Supreme Court threw a bomb into American culture on June 24, 2022, when it overruled Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. This decision immediately threw American women into a more intense culture war that has pitted family members and society against each other.
All of these issues are weighing on women, but the biggest, most obvious threat facing women in the workforce today is mental burnout.
Women are so tired, demoralized and mentally scarred from the events they have lived through, that they have a hard time recovering from it; some even becoming paralyzed from taking action.
One of the root causes of burnout is the disinformation being waged around the issues that women are facing, and this is making life more confusing and wearing them down.
Some of the increases of disinformation by pundits and politicians for money and political gain is unconscionable.
Cracks in the healthcare and education fields are happening, and women are quitting jobs in record numbers. Until our society recognizes the mental toll this is taking and works on its emotional fitness to stop the spread of misinformation, this trend will continue.
We have always been a nation of different opinions, but condoning spin to the point of lying is a nationwide problem.
As Benjamin Franklin so wisely said, “Half a truth is often a great lie.”
America is at a critical juncture for women in the workforce, and recovery and prosperity depends on whether or not society improves and women get more help
Related audio/video interview recordings:
An in-depth, hour long webinar with experts discussing the threats of disinformation and misinformation at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. It contains important information about the difference between disinformation and misinformation, how it is spread, and what to do about it. A recommended watch for educators:
YouTube, The Aspen Institute, March 20, 2020 “Infodemic Half Truths, Lies, and Critical Information in a Time of Pandemic”
Podcast capturing how worn out, alone and desperate women feel during Covid-19 pandemic:
The New York Times, Podcast, April 16, 2021, “The Agony of Parenting.”
Biden promised to do more to help women and families in his Build Back Better agenda which Congress failed to pass in December 2021:
Speech, The White House, April 29, 2021 Speeches and Remarks, “Remarks by President Biden in Address to Joint Session of Congress”
Other related articles you may be interested in:
Where things stand with women in the workforce:
Harvard Business Review, March 08, 2022, “Women Can’t Go Back to the Pre-pandemic Status Quo”
CNBC, Why Child Tax Credit not expanded. Expired Dec 2021
A look back to women in the workplace issues before the Covid-19 pandemic:
Helen’s Place LLC, January 15, 2019, “Anti-#Me Too Movement Gains Traction with the GOP”
Helen’s Place LLC will continue to watch, reach out and report on the toll the pandemic era is having on the emotional fitness of women in the workforce.
Your comments are greatly appreciated. Send them to Helen’s Place LLC via email to info@helensplacenet.com. We’re always interested in learning more about you and the issues that are important to you.
