Executive women share insights about the future of work.
The United States is currently seeing some of the highest unemployment rates for women since the 1980ās, resulting in an estimated $64 billion in lost wages and economic activity.
The workforce is experiencing what many are calling āThe Great Resignation,ā as the pandemic has caused 2/3 of US employees to reevaluate their purpose in life. Over half of those participating in the Great Resignation identify as women.
Why women?
In search of answers, the Baumhart Center called upon of Loyola University Chicago, of Workday, of YWCA Metro Chicago, of Koya Partners, and of Design Your Professional Joy for a panel conversation on the current work environment for women and what the future may hold.
The pandemic aggravated gender norms.
With remote learning being the reality for many this past year, parents ā specifically mothers ā spent an increased amount of time caring for their children. āIn heterosexual partnerships with both parents working, mothers with children under 12 had reduced their paid working hours four to five times as much as fathers,ā Zayer explains. āInegalitarian divisions of pandemic parenting were commonplace as couples relied on default gender stereotypes of men as the breadwinners and women as caregivers.ā
Yet, as the world returns to ābusiness as usualā and children go back to school, some mothers (and women in general) arenāt rushing to return to the office.
Remote work may lead to more leadership opportunities.
Muse believes some women may find an advantage in staying fully remote.
āThere is an expansion of acceptance of remote work. Not that itās preferred, but it surely does offer opportunities for women that want to take on leadership rolesā¦So, maybe youāre based in Chicago, but thereās an opportunity based in DC that will allow you to be an Executive Director or in a leadership position where you truly can expand your reach.ā
Muse gives the example of single mothers who may in the past have turned down opportunities because they didnāt want to move their children, ānow you really do have the flexibilityā¦to look at jobs in a completely different way.ā
Employers need to develop inclusive workplace cultures.
But for women that do want to return to the office, there is still some hesitancy.
āThis pandemic has been a reset button globally and, in this country, for ourselves as individuals but also professionalsā¦Coming back to the office for a lot of us, including women who like me identify as Black, and those who have been historically and systemically marginalized and underrepresentedā¦why would I go back?ā Kupe poses. āItās up to the employers now to show that when you come back, things will be different.ā
Gonzalez agrees, calling for employers to ārethink the employee experience.ā
āThink about your audience,ā says Gonzalez. āAre you starting with an 8 a.m. meeting knowing that many of the folks joining are caregivers? Could you move that meeting to later? If you start doing that, others will follow, and then organizations will recognize those behaviors of inclusion. The impact is phenomenal and itās contagious.ā
Enough is enough.
While Johnson-Scales agrees that employers have the responsibility to change workplace culture, she also believes, āwe have the ability to proactively pursue the things that we want.ā
Johnson-Scales participated in the Great Resignation herself, leaving her corporate job of almost twenty years because she decided she wanted something different ā something that deeply aligned with her unique purpose.
āThe workplace was created and designed for men. That structure didnāt work for women before the pandemic, and it blew up during the pandemicā¦This moment in time gives us the opportunity to create the future of work by getting in the driverās seat of our careers.ā
āWhat it takes, is us to say āenough.ā Enough to the things that donāt bring us joy. Enough to work environments that donāt support us. Enough to doing work we donāt love.ā
She acknowledges, though, that for some women, saying āenoughā isnāt always easy, but āweāve got to recognize that we have the power to change all of these thingsā¦we have to have confidence in ourselves to create the change that we want to see.ā
Watch the full conversation on The Future of Women at Work .