Women & Work
There are reports that support the notion that women continue to be the heavy lifters with domestic responsibilities, despite being in modern dual career relationships & households. More specifically, mothers in dual career couple relationships are twice as likely as the father to do 5 hours of chores daily. This was amplified in 2020 during the pandemic with virtual learning for children. Women disproportionately cared for the children’s learning, more so than their male partners. Also, due to the gender wage gap, when couples were faced with one partner over another quitting work to care for the children, the woman in the relationship made the sacrifice, to keep the higher earning partner employed.
A recent word embedding analysis of artificial intelligence derived from Google News associated man to computer scientist and woman to homemaker. One might have hoped that the Google News embedding would exhibit little gender bias because many of its authors are professional journalists.
What are the effects of this continued disparity?
According to a recent Bloomberg article, women lost jobs during the pandemic due to having to care for family needs more so than men. More than one in four women contemplated what many would have considered unthinkable: downshifting their careers or leaving the workforce completely. In September 2020, 78,000 men compared to 600,000 women left the workforce.
In March 2020, The Families First Coronavirus Response Act was passed as Federal Law. This allowed for 10 extra weeks parental leave for employees at small businesses. There were 40 lawsuits filed with the #1 reason illegally denying parental leave during the pandemic. Other reasons for leaving work:
a mother was fired for her 1 year old making noise during conference calls
an auto shop employee was told ‘keep your mouth shut’ when asking for time off to look after his 3 kids
a retail manager resigned after she was threatened with demotion for asking for parental leave
The US Department of Labor Blog adds: “according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, in 2020, women’s annual earnings were 82.3% of men’s, and the gap is even wider for many women of color. Though women only made 57 cents per dollar earned by men in 1973 when this Department of Labor PSA was made, progress has stalled and we’re still far from closing the pay gap. Unfortunately, the pandemic stalled gains made toward closing the pay gap, and layoffs and a lack of child care have forced many women out of the workforce entirely. In February 2021, women’s labor force participation rate was 55.8% – the same rate as April 1987. And women of color and those working in low-wage occupations have been the most impacted.”
Moving forward, we wanted to highlight some hands on, research backed strategies for managers to implement from a recent Harvard Business Review article, “What Working Parents Need from Their Managers.”
Predictability- Adding ‘core hours’ gives parents preplanned schedules allowing for the ability to manage the rest of their life.
Shortened meetings with clear goals & staggered schedules- This ensures coverage for needs of the company allowing flexibility to the employees.
Buddy System-Allowing for employees to tend to family needs while a ‘covid buddy’ represents their work, taking feedback back to them when they return to work.
One to One-Structure- Frequent check-ins that are recurring, consistent and personal with all team members. Ask open-ended questions about challenges with work life balance, and share their work priorities. Setting intentions and goals are effective in achievement.
Support resolutions to work-family conflict-Assess the resources people need to live successfully at work and home.
Offer resources- Be empathetic, seeking input about scheduling preferences, creative solutions to manage the work and life demands through personal example setting and storytelling.
Be flexible within the framework and consistency set forth- Unexpected events occur daily with shifts we cannot control.
Express your own struggles & solutions- Makethe reality visible for everyone to relate to.
Adapt a new perspective for the next decade: It is not where we work but how we work. Our goal is to accomplish meaningful work, not where we do it from.
Create psychological safety for employees to take ‘leave time’ as needed.
Extend deadlines, adjust sales quotas, change compensation structures.
Do not hold back promotions, raises, opportunities to those who need modified schedules or time to care for family needs.
Although these recommendations were made during the 2020 pandemic, the concepts continue to be relevant for todays working parents.
The science of gratitude shows us our brain benefits with effects on our physical and mental health. When employees are treated with care, the reciprocity will be a level of gratitude leading to loyalty. Why would a person want to leave an employer who offers the above suggested support?
If you are a manager, parent, father, or co-worker of a woman who carries most of the domestic load at home please support her. The gender wage gap has continued. Let’s demand change so future Google News & other news outlets’ word embedding changes to: Man is to Computer Scientist as Woman is to Computer Scientist!
Subscribe to The Knoxville Happiness Coalition podcast!