A Feminist Response to the covid-induced ‘Shesession’
Women are being hit hard by the current recession. Women have lost jobs at almost twice the rate as men; and women are 4 times more likely than men to feel pressure to cut working hours.
Its not surprising. The sectors most affected by the lockdowns are those that disproportionately employ women. Restaurants, retail, services.
The term “shesession’ is ubiquitous and progressive governments are pledging to take a feminist approach to both get us out of this economic mess and to help us ‘build back better’.
I spend a fair bit of time thinking about what the economy of the future may look like. We’re seeing a lot of change now — the internet and automation/robotization is radically changing the types of work people will do. Addressing climate change and decarbonizing the economy will radically change how we produce goods, acquire energy and move ourselves around.
Preparing for this future will be fantastic for new, tech-oriented companies. They will grow, quite literally, as quickly as we can grow them. A friend’s daughter is graduating from engineering school next year. Job offers are already flying in. But she is an exception. There are far too few people like her. And I know, that as she starts to think of family, there will be strong forces pulling her away from the workplace.
There is a growing field of specialists who focus on equity, diversity and inclusiveness in economic policy. They look at policies and…