Job Loss and its Impact on Women

By: Alana Esposito

Women have a rich history in the workforce. From Lowell girls to Rosie the Riveter, women have been making gradual gains in their collective economic standing. But the pandemic might have just set those goals back significantly. Women, especially women of color, are paid less than their male counterparts, regularly face harassment and the daily hostilities of misogyny in the workplace, and usually bear the brunt of childcare responsibilities at home. Which is why it’s so significant that in December, the over 140,000 jobs lost were entirely held by women. Since the beginning of the pandemic, women have lost roughly one million more jobs than men. A far cry from last year, when women made up the majority of the workforce.

And with many children still learning virtually with women being forced to accommodate such new schedules, the steep economic cost to women is likely not entirely totaled yet. But it will certainly have reverberating effects in the future. The brunt of these losses are falling on the shoulder of women of color, and Washington seems content to sit by and let women be set back significantly.