What We Lose When Women Leave the Workplace
By Annie Mueller
COVID-19 is forcing women out of the workforce in record numbers. What do we lose when women leave the workplace, and how can we make it possible for them to stay?
E
arly in 2020, Sandra Adam became one of the 2.3 million women that would lose their jobs over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the following job hunt, she
questioned her path forward. “I was looking for a leadership role, but the only available positions were lower-level,” says Adam, who is a CPA with more than 20 years of experience in forensic accounting and consulting. “It really made me question if I wanted to stay in public accounting because of how difficult it had been to build my career as a woman—and how quickly it ended.” Adam’s layoff happened early in the pandemic, when the numbers
were still accumulating and the effects still unclear. But by December 2020, the COVID-19 economy’s effect on women in the workforce was clear—and disturbing: Of the 140,000 jobs cut that month, every single one belonged to a woman.1
In fact, that month women
lost 156,000 jobs—while men gained 16,000. According to analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, throughout the course of the pandemic, women have lost 5.4 million jobs, 1 million more jobs than men. And according to Oxfam International, women lost $800 billion in income in 2020 alone. “Tis loss absolutely sets us back from a number of perspectives, including participation, lost innovation, and economic impact,” says Dorri McWhorter, CPA, CEO and president of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago and immediate past board chair of the Illinois CPA Society. “From a company’s perspective, it’s devastating. Organizations need to prioritize retaining women in the workforce as they look toward their own recovery.”
Annie Mueller is an experienced Puerto Rico-based financial writer. She is a frequent contributor to various industry publications.
1
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/08/economy/women-job-losses-pandemic/
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