The pandemic threat to female leadership
Jul 04,2021 - Last updated at Jul 04,2021
By Michele Barry and Geeta Rao Gupta
STANFORD — One in four. That is the proportion of American women who are considering downshifting their careers or leaving the workforce due to the impact of COVID-19. In just one year, the pandemic has driven more than two million women in the United States out of the workplace, resulting in the largest male-female unemployment gap in two decades.
Working mothers, more than 40 per cent of whom are their family’s primary breadwinner, have been especially hit hard. Many simply are unable to balance their careers with overwhelming increases in household responsibilities at home. This mirrors similar trends globally, across all regions, women lost jobs at a greater rate than men in 2020, as they took on an average of 30 more hours of childcare per week.