Some call it the “Great Return” as life gets back to normal and people return to work in the office.
But for millions of women—especially women of color—it’s anything but a return to normal.
From the workforce to childcare and family concerns, Covid disproportionately negatively impacted women. Women around the world bore the weight of managing their children’s virtual learning, making the decisions on health and safety, worrying about families and parents and more—all while trying to work from home.
Covid Highlights Long-Term Female Struggles
Danielle Weisberg and Carly Zakin are cofounders and co-CEOs of theSkimm, a newsletter with 7 million subscribers, most of whom are millennial women. They recently posted an op-ed about the Great She-Cession, shining a light on the lasting impacts of the pandemic on women. Understanding these changes and challenges for women is crucial to building relationships with these powerful consumers going forward and delivering strong experiences to them, both as customers and employees.
For years, women survived by hustling. They were constantly busy and said yes to every meeting, opportunity and networking event on the off chance that it led to their next opportunity. To succeed, women learned that they had to always say yes and not let their guard down and risk missing out on the chance to do something great. As theSkimm founders write, women were in a constant state of hustle. That’s what we did to survive.
But the pandemic forced women to be still and added countless responsibilities to their already full plates.
Pandemic Fuels Economic She-Cession
The pandemic caused widespread economic turmoil and millions of jobs lost, but those jobs disproportionately belonged to women. In December 2020, women accounted for nearly 90% of jobs lost, with Black and Latino women hit the hardest. Many women dropped out of the workforce or stepped back in their roles because of childcare concerns, much more often than men. Women’s jobs were twice as vulnerable to the pandemic as men’s.
A survey of theSkimm readers demonstrates how difficult the pandemic has been for women: 70% thought about their mental health more frequently, 45% reconsidered their careers, 33% rescheduled a major life event, 24% started therapy, 17% lost their jobs and 16% grew their families.
Connecting With Women In A Post-Covid World
What does this mean for the future of women as consumers and employees?
It means women can’t win. They either hustle to get many of the same opportunities as men or they miss out on those opportunities by bearing the weight to support people around them. Even women who stay in the workforce report feeling more pressure, exhaustion and burnout than their male counterparts.
Women have hustled and helped for generations, but now they are tired. There might not be anything great to return to after the troubles women have faced over the past year and a half.
Employers need to consider the unique demands on working women as they build workplace practices, cultures and benefit plans. Things like flexible work schedules, child care, fertility coverage, mental health resources and retirement funds go a long way in alleviating much of the stress and weight placed on working women. And these investments help the entire world—research from McKinsey estimates that improving gender equality now could add $13 trillion to the global GDP in 2030.
Companies need to practice empathy towards female customers to understand their stress, worry and concern. Women are tired. They want to be respected and for companies to see and support them.
The pandemic has caused everyone to rethink their priorities. Perhaps this is an end to women’s need to constantly hustle and permission to slow down and feel fine saying no. Moving forward, women need to be able to return on their own terms—and that includes everything from returning to the office, returning to the store and returning to their many responsibilities.
Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker and the author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future. Sign up for her weekly newsletter here.
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June 25, 2021 at 01:00AM
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Covid Hurt Women Around The World—Here’s How To Get Back On Track - Forbes
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