Women in business is always an important topic of discussion, but the COVID-19 pandemic has changed business of all kinds so much, how has it affected women striving to achieve in the business world? President and CEO of the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce Kaylin Risvold sits down with Amanda Kunzer, Director of Operations at Good Therapy, to discuss how COVID-19 has affected women in the workforce.
Women in the Workforce
There have been so many strives for women in the professional world, but there is still a long way to go and a lot of progress to be made. With the COVID-19 pandemic setting everything back, is it setting back professional progress for women? “We are definitely seeing a decline of women in the workforce due to, yes COVID-19,” said Amanda Kunzer. “It’s concerning because we’ve come quite a way, women make up half the workforce so you know it is a concern and women are pulling out and staying home more to deal with the family responsibilities,” said Kunzer.
“I was reading a Harvard business review article and their analysis shows that women’s jobs are 1.8 times more vulnerable to this crisis than men’s jobs,” said Kaylin. “They said that women made up for 54% of all job losses in May of 2020,” said Kaylin. It’s clear that there has been progress made with inclusion in business, but with job losses for women taking up over half of the total job losses in May of this year, there is clearly still work to be done. A global pandemic shouldn’t set back gender equality, and we all have to be mindful of supporting everyone equally during these trying times.
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