How employers can help women regain ground lost during pandemic

Vaccinations are available, and states have been reopening, but the number of women in the workforce has fallen to historic lows because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As employees begin returning to the office, employers should be thinking about how to reshape their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts to attract and retain women workers.

How we got here

When states began issuing “stay at home” orders early last year, women almost immediately started leaving the workforce in alarming numbers. Between April and March 2020, approximately 3.5 million mothers with school-age children left active work, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. They either shifted into paid or unpaid leave, lost their jobs, or exited the labor market altogether. By October 2020, more than 2 million women overall had left the labor force.

As 2021 grinds on, millions of women have yet to return to full-time work. In January 2021, mothers’ active work status was 6.4 percentage points lower than in January 2020, according to the Census Bureau.

While a complex mix of factors has contributed to the disproportionate number of women who have departed from the workforce, some studies attribute the disparity to the pressure and stress of working from home while their children are also attending school there. Even after schools began reopening for in-person learning in 2021, however, women haven’t quickly returned to work.

Litigation ensues