The Great Shecession: Women Continue to Leave the Workforce in Record Numbers

Many didn’t see it coming. Some business leaders downplayed the impact on their companies and tried to restart their business to operate the same as before. Yet the Great Resignation came as whiplash to organizations unprepared to accommodate demanded changes to employee work life. As they turned in their resignation letters, many workers called it their “COVID epiphanies.”

And who’s turning in their letters more frequently? Female employees. They said they were tired of climbing the corporate ladder. Others didn’t have a choice. A grossly unequal number of women continue to lose their jobs, especially in the hospitality and service industries. Dubbed the Shecession, the exodus of women from the workforce has caused growing concern among economists.

Female Labor Force Participation Plummets to Historic Lows

With the lockdowns at the start of the pandemic, “lucky” women had the ability to work from home. Those who could work remotely found themselves without childcare. Stereotypical gender roles kicked back in.

Working mothers juggled back-to-back Zoom calls while caring for young children. Families with school-age children needed to devise ways to share the home Wi-Fi, and in some cases the laptops too. Some went to work anyway (if they could), risking exposing themselves and their families to the virus ravaging the world. Others didn’t have that option and dealt with the stress of furloughs and layoffs. Without childcare, many who would’ve gone back simply couldn’t.

Some businesses haven’t recuperated and others closed never reopened, resulting in a net loss of 5 million jobs since February 2020. During that time, women lost 5.4 million of those jobs in the United States. Read that again. Women involuntarily lost more jobs overall than the entire U.S. economy and 1 million more jobs than men. As men went back to work, women didn’t … and even more, continued to lose their jobs.

How many? The National Women’s Law Center released data showing that the women’s labor force participation fell to 57.1% in September 2021. Women’s participation in the workforce hasn’t been this low since October 1988 … 33 years ago. For comparison, pre-pandemic participation was 59.2% in February 2020.

Unequal Unemployment Rates

The reported unemployment rates tell only part of the story. Women who’ve exited the workforce or are no longer looking for jobs don’t “count” in Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. The unemployment rate overall inched down to 4.6% in October 2021. However, the number of female workers also continued to drop, creating an even greater disparity.

A 2021 McKinsey and LeanIn.org study on Women in the Workplace found that up to a quarter of currently working women are considering leaving their jobs. Citing extreme burnout, these women have begun interviewing for less demanding jobs with greater lifestyle benefits.

Job Sectors

Some segments of the workforce have suffered the loss of more female workers than others. For example, employment for men with less than a high school education has mostly recovered to pre-pandemic levels. Employment rates for women without a high school education still lag 8+ percentage points behind the rate before the pandemic economic crisis.

Most notably, the leisure and hospitality sector has historically employed more female workers (up to 52.7% of the workforce). But in September 2021, of the reported 74,000 new jobs created, only 7,000 went to women.

You might be thinking: But what about all the “Help Wanted” signs I see in local business windows? Those overwhelmingly minimum-wage jobs just cannot support a household and frankly don’t carry any luster for job seekers. A glance at recent headlines can tell you the reason. Why would a female worker (or anyone really) subject themselves to low pay, long hours, and dangerous, irate customers?

In professional settings, as bosses call back their workers, more and more women are saying: “Mmm, no thanks.” After demonstrating for 18+ months they can work from home successfully, a lot of workers don’t want to come back. Why should they return to long, expensive commutes, time away from their families, and wearing uncomfortable pants again? As mainly women workers have taken on greater household responsibilities, adding that time and cost doesn’t seem worth it.

Contingent Hires

A hiring crisis also has businesses increasingly looking for contingent workers. Of course, this trend predates the pandemic as employers sought to fill gaps during uncertain futures. Organizations leveraged nonemployee labor for organization-critical projects for additional flexibility during uncertain markets.

Now more than half of employers use or plan to use freelancers, independent contractors, and gig workers to operate. In addition, the Intuit 2020 Report found that 80% of large U.S. corporations plan to increase the use of nonemployee labor.

While this flexibility sounds encouraging, according to Statista, fewer women take on these roles. For example, in 2017, 15% of contingent workers were males 25-34 years old compared to 9.6% of female contingent workers.

Facing the Ongoing Pay Gap

Long an issue before the pandemic, what women get paid for the same work still lags behind their male counterparts. The American Association of University Women (AAUW) found that even after 50 years, women still only make 83% of what men earn. Women of color experience ever greater wage disparities (64% for black women and 55% for hispanic women).

With those ongoing disparities exacerbated during the pandemic, women increasingly looked for positions with better employee well-being options. Some of this comes from sheer necessity as women continue to take on the traditional gender roles of caring for small children. Flexibility in hours, remote work options, or simply looking for better pay rank among the highest sought-after perks. By looking around at better job options, increasingly women have found creating their own job might be the best option.

Women in Entrepreneurship

The extra time at home during the lockdown created the opportunity to research and plan alternative income streams. Workers found that starting a new business cost far less than they’d anticipated. The result? In general, entrepreneurs opened new businesses at twice the rate pre-pandemic. Many opened side businesses to supplement lower wages or to guard against unexpected income changes. Others sought to completely replace it.

In fact, as women exit the workforce, they have increasingly begun working for themselves, becoming their own bosses. In 2020, nearly half the new entrepreneurs were women, compared to 27% in recent years.

A recent study from Gusto provided interesting insights into the types of women who decided to go into business for themselves. More than half are the breadwinners in their families, carrying the bulk of financial responsibilities. 58% started new businesses to exert more control over their work schedules, while 37% wanted to improve their financial opportunities. For some, starting their own businesses offered the most viable option to support their families when compared to low-wage jobs.

With the expansion of virtual networking, women can find avenues to build their own successful businesses. And they do so while creating their own schedules and building their clientele while doing something they love. And many of those budding women entrepreneurs are choosing business coach as a new profession.

In fact, many find that their predispositions align incredibly well with the qualities of the best business coaches. These self-motivated women love building relationships while facilitating and teaching others, while also serving as expert problem-solvers. They have persistence and growth mindsets that push them to continue to learn and develop their own skill sets.

Thinking about joining the Shecession movement? Consider becoming an EOS Implementer®! Implementers help small-business leaders and entrepreneurs get what they want from their businesses through coaching, teaching, and facilitating using proven EOS® tools and processes.