"I remember last year being much more of a celebratory day," said AnnElizabeth Konkel, economist at the Indeed Hiring Lab. "Monday will be a more somber day, especially on the economic side."
The economic pain felt by women in the past year doesn't only have implications for those individuals and their households, but the entire nation, economists have warned. If women don't return to the workforce at the rate they were employed prior to the pandemic, U.S. GDP and income "would be permanently lower," the Congressional Research Service cautioned in a December research report.
In a statement on Monday, President Joe Biden said he is ordering the creation of the White House Gender Policy Council to "ensure that every domestic and foreign policy we pursue rests on a foundation of dignity and equity for women." He added, "Around the world, we are seeing decades of women's economic gains erased by this pandemic."