Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Available On Air Stations
Watch Live

KPBS Midday Edition

The Pandemic Highlighted Workforce Inequality For Women

Before the coronavirus crisis, there were briefly more women on U.S. payrolls than men. That's no longer true. Women accounted for 55% of the rise in job losses last month.
Nam Y. Huh AP
Before the coronavirus crisis, there were briefly more women on U.S. payrolls than men. That's no longer true. Women accounted for 55% of the rise in job losses last month.
Shaina Gross who is Vice President of Client Services at San Diego Workforce Partnership joined Midday Edition to talk about ways employers can create equity for women in the workplace post pandemic.

Women lost 1 million more jobs than men last year. In fact, women have been so disproportionately affected by job loss during the pandemic it's been called the "SHEcession" which highlights how deeply inequality in the workforce impacts women.

RELATED: Getting Women Back To Work Is Key To A Strong Recovery, Labor Secretary Says

Shaina Gross who is Vice President of Client Services at San Diego Workforce Partnership wrote a recent op-ed published by The San Diego Union-Tribune about what it will take for employers to create equity in the workplace and bring women back.

Advertisement

She points to the wage gap, childcare responsibilities and women-dominated professions impacted by the pandemic as reasons job loss soared among women.

RELATED: This Top Biden Economist Has A Plan: Create Jobs, Address Inequality, Ignore Trolls

"Women, in general, tend to be in lower wage frontline jobs that were most impacted by the recession. Things like hospitality and retail. So, (women) were losing their jobs or working jobs on the frontline more exposed to COVID and the things we were trying to stay home to avoid." Gross said.

Gross joined Midday Edition on Thursday to talk about why she thinks putting women in decision making roles while providing remote work and flexible working hours could help end the "SHEcession" and get women back to work.