A woman’s worth
5th October 2020 · 0 Comments
Economists sounded the alarm that decades of progress for U.S. women could be wiped out due to what they are calling “The 1st Female Recession,” brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. “The female recession could slow the recovery,” according to some economists and policy analysts.
Economists are predicting that the wage gap will increase, and tens of millions of women may never return to the labor force, even after a vaccine is found. Global domestic product could be $1 trillion less in 2030 than it would be without a gender unemployment gap.
According to the Census, women earned 82.3 cents of every dollar men made last year, up from 77.8 cents in 2007. Also, a survey found that at the start of the pandemic, women lost more jobs than men, particularly in industries like hospitality and other services.
Black women saw the worst jobless rate since the 1980s at 16.5 percent but Hispanic women fared worse with 20.2 percent unemployment in April 2020, while other groups were beginning to see an improvement by May 2020. Black and Latino workers and women of all races have seen outsized job losses as closures from the pandemic hit sectors with high percentages of those workers – such as restaurants and health care – particularly hard.
“A lot of the lost jobs were from people who work in the service economy dealing with the public, for example, and relatively, compared to other jobs, relatively low wages,” Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said. “Unemployment has gone up more for Hispanics, more for African Americans, and women have borne a notable share of the burden beyond their percentage in the workforce. That’s really, really, really unfortunate.”
In reality, what they have really uncovered is that a successful U.S. economy is heavily dependent on women in the workforce, full stop. Nearly seven million Americans aren’t employed because they have to take care of children who are learning remotely. The lack of availability of childcare due to closures and job loss are reasons some have not returned to the job market. Ninety-four percent of workers in the childcare industry are women.
This factor may be the reason for Trump’s insistence that schools be reopened, even as the pandemic continues to surge in some parts of the country.
And while Trump and Republicans are refusing to put forth a workable coronavirus stimulus package or bring the House’s stimulus plan up for a vote, which includes funding for schools, childcare centers, temporary paid leave, and individual stimulus checks, the Republicans are willing to give another round of tax cuts and unlimited immunity to corporations in their so called “skinny stimulus bill.”
We can only surmise that the Republicans and Trump have no problem continuing to cut off their noses to spite their faces. They can’t wrap their heads around the fact that opening schools won’t guarantee that business will resume as usual. Without the help for small businesses that lies within the House’s legislation, more small businesses will continue to close.
The pandemic has also laid bare the blatant job and rampant job discrimination that Black and brown women have endured for decades. What is clear is that the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour is archaic and ridiculous and that the minimum wage, in and of itself, is a poverty trap.
Even before the pandemic, though, Black women have been locked into a low-wage and unequal pay system that has been unrelenting.
In “Black Women’s Labor Market History Reveals Deep-Seated Race and Gender Discrimination,” published in 2019 by the Economic Policy Institute, Nina Banks wrote:
“The Black woman’s experience in America provides arguably the most overwhelming evidence of the persistent and ongoing drag from gender and race discrimination on the economic fate of workers and families. Black women’s labor market position is the result of employer practices and government policies that disadvantaged black women relative to white women and men. Negative representations of black womanhood have reinforced these discriminatory practices and policies. Since the era of slavery, the dominant view of black women has been that they should be workers, a view that contributed to their devaluation as mothers with caregiving needs at home. African-American women’s unique labor market history and current occupational status reflects these beliefs and practices. Compared with other women in the United States, black women have always had the highest levels of labor market participation regardless of age, marital status, or presence of children at home.”
The inequities faced by Black women in the labor force are a glaring reminder that if the U.S. economy is to avert a possible economic depression from the ongoing pandemic, things must change for women in the labor market, and specifically for Black and brown women.
Like any other patient, the U.S. economy, in order to heal properly and make a full recovery, must receive appropriate treatment. This is not the time for band-aids and going back to business as usual.
This means that women must earn living wages and equal pay. Black and brown women, especially, must receive educational grants, whether it’s to obtain a collegiate degree that allows entrance into white collar jobs or to acquire trades or specialized skills which allow them to earn better incomes or become entrepreneurs. Job discrimination must end, and glass ceilings must be shattered.
Also, the Small Business Administration needs to broaden its definition of a small business to include businesses that gross under $50,000, so that real mom and pop stores can apply and receive investment loans. The SBA also needs to invest in start up businesses for aspiring entrepreneurs.
If there is a silver lining in the coronavirus pandemic, it is the unique opportunity to invest in America, its people, infrastructure, small businesses, and to deal with the racial pandemic that has plagued this nation by setting a reformative agenda that ushers in equality, fairness and justice for communities of color.
America has the potential to be the greatest nation on Earth but that can only happen if leadership has the will to share, to help others, and to understand that diversity and unity are the greatest strengths this nation possesses: E Pluribus Unum.
This article originally published in the October 5, 2020 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
