'Shecession': Why the pandemic forced women to leave the workforce in droves

Over a year ago, the COVID-19 pandemic set the nation into an economic recession.

The downturn hit women — particularly Black and Hispanic women — hard, erasing decades of advancements in the workforce and creating what The New York Times is calling a “Shecession.”

When the pandemic hit, unemployment rates among women briefly spiked to an all time high. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, over 3 million women left the labor force between March and April 2020. Since then, only 2 million women have returned to work.

The last time there were this few women in the American workforce was 1987.

A number of factors have played a key role in the Shecession.

Gemma Zamarro, a professor at the University of Arkansas and senior economist at the USC Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research, said the pandemic and social distancing measures have primarily impacted female-dominated service-industry workplaces such as restaurants and hotels.

Zamarro said the closures of childcare centers and schools has also placed more responsibilities on women.

Now, many women have been forced to serve as both caretakers and teachers while also working. Their alternative is to leave the workforce altogether.

Chelsea Alford, a single mother and owner of the Slay Room, a small beauty business that offers products to empower women, said she had to “scramble” to make sure her child continued his education, while she tried to come up with other streams of income to pay bills.

During the pandemic, “being a mom especially has felt like a non-stop duty— a job you can never check out of” said Marcella Badillo, a mother of two and activities director at a local charter school.

Zamarro and Alford both had similar experiences as Badillo. They say they took on the roles and responsibilities of a full-time teacher, IT person, while also cooking and cleaning.

“In the back of your head you still have to do what’s best for you and figure out how you’re going to get more money,” said Alford. “All of that took a toll on an individual.”

The closures of childcare facilities and schools has not only revealed the amount of responsibility that has been forced upon women, but alsodemonstrated the shortcomings of United States’ childcare system.

“Childcare has been a problem that we have had for a long time,” said Zamarro, “and the pandemic is showing us how weak it is.”

The Biden Administration recently released $39 billion to help relieve those child care providers who were hit the hardest during the pandemic.

“More people are seeing that affordable childcare is a big deal,” Vice-President Kamala Harris said during a March visit to a Connecticut child development center.

Many childcare centers are privately funded and so the best way to move forward is for more government investment in both childcare and education, Zamarro said.

Evan Jackson is an entertainment reporter and owner of Young Bold & Regal Media Company, which features interviews of black women and women of color in entertainment. Jackson said many of the actors and women of color he’s interviewed have had to pick up new skills in order to stay afloat during the many closures that faced the entertainment industry.

There are consequences for not responding to the Shecession,” Jackson said: “Those women of color and Black women are left out of the loop when it comes to the investments and when it comes to investing in them.”

Is there any upside to the Shecession?

“Hopefully,” Zamarro said, “there is more understanding and more flexibility in terms of hours or working from home when needed, more support for family leave within employers.”

Jackson believes there’s hope and that people are “opening their eyes” and taking action in supporting disenfranchised groups, including minorities and women.

This show was produced by the following team: