Pandemic woes for women: To work or not to work?

To be or not to be—this question haunted Hamlet, and pushed him into an existential crisis. And in a new-age workplace scenario, it has become a dilemma in several women employee's minds. No, this is not about challenges to be tackled in the workplace. It is about whether to keep a job or to quit!

The Indian economy pre-Covid-19 pandemic was already suffering due to the economic slowdown and the declining GDP. The year 2020 had witnessed the biggest economic fallback globally, and naturally, many corporates underwent downsizing. While the masses were affected at large, the gender gap within the Indian workforce has widened even further due to the challenges of lockdown. While there are various underlying reasons this happened, this also highlights the emergence of gender equity policies and general awareness amongst the masses.

The Indian workforce has been privy to shrinking statistics in the past two decades (2010-2020). While the male workforce declined by 5.59%, the female workforce saw a steep decline of a sharp 20.38%. The sheer contrast between the statistics reveals the difference in the regressive factors and the degree of impact they create for the male and female workforce. Many factors contribute to these statistics, but the significant impact comes from the responsibility accruing to the societal roles and expectations the women have to nurture and the lower priority to women's career development.

Covid-19, the unfortunate pandemic, has highlighted how gender roles impact not only women's personal decision to work but also how women are subject to career dilemmas when choosing between career and societal expectations!

Let me backup here for a moment and explore how women are dealing with the present work-from-home situations. Of course, each person's circumstance and experience is unique and distinct, but we look at the broader patterns here. Since time immemorial, women have had several shoes to fill, and being employable is a much grander one. For years, there have been several challenges for women to overcome, especially at the workplace.

Gender politics are very much in vogue even today, but we have learned, grown, and quickly adapted to the ever-changing traditions of work despite all of it. But what to make of this new, unprecedented event that has plunged the entire world into social distancing? The pandemic certainly shook the marbles off several countries, affecting a majority of employers and employees. However, the impact on working women needs a bit of discussion, for the rate of willful unemployment is much higher amongst them.

Pandemic woes

When Covid-19 hit, and countries scuttled trying to revive their economies, it created an environment where more women were likely to have quit their jobs. The sheer pressure of adapting to a new model of working that now demanded in each employee higher responsibility, quite frankly, was tougher on women than it was on men.

In a report published by McKinsey & Company, an estimated 2 million women in American corporate spaces alone had considered taking extended leaves of absence or even quitting their jobs altogether. It is a staggering figure because even with other factors in play, working women have carved a niche for themselves in their particular places and spheres of employment.

Impact of the pandemic on women

Right off the bat, for every employee, it was a matter of putting in additional work to ensure the economy did not crash substantially. This situation took on a different turn for women because now they had other things to also take care of—such as children’s schooling from home, older parents, reduced or no household help, and non-supporting or overly demanding spouses.

The workplace demands, which entailed extra hours of constant work, were hard to maintain with the additional familial commitments. The transition into adapting to a new working model did not happen very smoothly for many, and women had to figure out how to make everything work.

Disparity among groups

While the men had their fair share of challenges to deal with, the impact was far more profound among certain groups of working women, according to research. For mothers tasked with taking care of young children, workplace performance often took the backseat. It was only a matter of time before working mothers had to choose between their jobs and children.

When it came to women in higher positions, the work demand was multifold—far more than for anybody else. With added responsibilities in place, many working mothers, even those in prominent positions, were forced to forego their roles as employed women and focus instead on other vital areas of their lives.

It was much worse for women coming from lower economic backgrounds and minority communities. The pandemic quite literally forced them to quit their jobs at the earliest, owing to sheer lack of support and platforms for continued progress.

Nature of labour

In reality, the nature of specific labor, by virtue, is uncertain. In a corporate setup, employability is a significant contributor to job security. Other factors influence women's continued employment in the workplace, and quite frankly, there are layers of those that peel like an onion. But what is fundamentally different from those factors to this particular event is that those causes can be tackled.

Sexism in the workforce can be handled—policies that are in place reflect that. With the advent of Covid-19, there is now a newfound problem: choosing between professional careers and family care-taking. It has thrown the balance right off the edge for several women, even at steady points in their careers.

Lack of support

What working women need, at any point, is substantial support. With the pandemic, this needed to be much more profound. A simple understanding of unpaid care work— which is often put on women—would have been a sufficient base to create conducive environments for women to continue to work. The lack of such support, but at the same time, a massive increase in workplace demand, would have led several to have no other option but to quit.

The way forward

It is essential to keep in mind that working women are also primary caretakers in families. The idea is to develop more inclusivity, especially during unforeseen conditions like these. For that to happen, we cannot consider working women and men in the same boat. We cannot determine the modes of working to be the same for all employees.

But here is the conundrum. A profession is often kept distinctively and vigorously separate from personal lives. There needs to be a modicum of interest in thinking about, if not shifting the perspective behind this thought. Employees are people, after all, and women employees have more to take on in society. The way forward must be to understand better and support the hordes of working women effectively to ensure their contribution to the workforce remains constant, if not more.

Views are personal. The author is the founder and CEO of Talent Power Partners a global leadership development company based in Bengaluru. She is also the author of the book, ‘Checkmate Office Politics’.