More than five million American women have left the workforce as a result of the pandemic, and women’s participation in the U.S. labor force this past March was at its lowest level since 1988, explains Simmons University President Lynn Perry Wooten in her Boston Globe opinion piece. With major implications, not just for individuals, but also for the future pipeline of women leaders, role models, and mentors, employers and educators must address this inequity and find ways to counter it.
The research:
- Globally, women have lost a staggering $800 billion in income due to COVID-19, according to a recent Oxfam International report.
- A 2020 Women in the Workplace study describes a potential looming crisis for corporate America, as 1 in 4 women considers whether to downshift her career or leave the workplace altogether.
- Women are more likely to skip applying for a job or promotion unless they met 90 to 100 percent of the qualifications, while men were comfortable meeting half of the listed qualifications.
- The confidence gap; research shows that this gap first appears among girls in late elementary or middle school.
- Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic wrote in a 2013 Harvard Business Review article, it can be easy to mistake confidence for competence, giving men an advantage, and organizations often do so.