Women Business Owners Are Suffering More Than Men During The COVID-19 Recession, Here’s How Trusting Women Can Help

In the summer of 2019 Julie was celebrating the first year since her hair salon opened. Her staff all had waiting lists for clients, and the initial anxiety about starting her own business turned to optimism. Then came the COVID-19 crash. Revenue went from good to zero overnight. Staff were laid off. There was no way to ignore the rent, and bank loans. Even as she looks forward to her town allowing shops to reopen soon, she predicts it will take months to recover. Federal help was not enough. Had it not been for her husband’s income, she may have lost the business. 

What hit her even harder than the finances was being told by people who don’t even know she exists that she could not open. She cares about her staff, clients, and their families more than the government she explained in frustration. She would have done whatever was necessary with sanitizing, masks, gloves, barriers between chairs, and social distancing. “How can a mega hardware store with thousands of customers every day be considered safe, but small shops are considered biohazards? The government basically said ‘we don’t trust you to do the right thing’ so you have to close down,” Julie told me. 

It’s hard enough for anyone to own a business and, during this recession, it’s even harder for women. Indeed, women are feeling the hit of the COVID-19 recession more than men. In what some are calling the “she-cession” or the “pink collar recession”, this COVID economy hurts women disproportionately more than men.

During World War 2, factories and offices hired women by the tens of thousands. As soldiers came home from war, women were sent home from the factories. During the decades following WWII, participation in the workforce was higher for men (90%) than for women (30%). In the ensuing decades, the US lost a massive part of its manufacturing in what were often male dominated jobs. Service-related jobs, however, climbed. Through the 1960s and 1970s, the unemployment rate for women was still a couple of points higher than for men, 3.1% versus 5.3%. By the 1980’s, that gap nearly disappeared. Several factors contributed to the changes such as family leave and availability of quality child care, meaning women no longer quit their jobs when pregnant or with young children. Office jobs where 70% of the workforce in some sectors were made up of women continued to grow. The recession of 2010 actually hit men harder with unemployment rates of 11% for men and 8% for women.

A year ago, rosy trends continued. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in April 2019 unemployment for men and women ages 25-54 was equal at 3%, and over age 55 men were at 2.6% versus women at 2.7%. Women who fared particularly well with unemployment compared to men were in the 45-54 age group. But the latest monthly data available for April 2020 shows a dramatic difference. Between the ages 25-54, male unemployment was 12.1% and women at 13.7%. Hit even harder was the age group 35-44, with men at 10.4% and women at 12.7%, while over age 55 men were at 12.1% and women at 15.5%. These numbers do not reflect May data which will show even higher unemployment rates.

As it turns out, the very thing that boosted women’s growth created their greatest vulnerability. Women’s employment in food service, retail, and beauty industries screeched to a full stop. Travel and hospitality has become non-existent. Even in the office setting women are facing a larger share of layoffs and are voluntarily staying at home because of family obligations. When schools suddenly closed children had no place to go during the day except home. The CARES Act passed by Congress allowed for unemployment compensation to cover parents who had to quit their jobs to become a full-time parent and at home teacher. The parents who quit their jobs to fill these important roles were mostly women. Sure, it would be better if men and women shared more of the child care and household responsibilities, but that is neither the issue nor solution here. 

Elected leaders need to understand what women need to get out of this recession. Despite the funds offered by state and federal governments, the money is not enough for families to cover household expenses and it will certainly not help their jobs to survive. Women want to get back to work and provide for their families. Women also want to be respected as employers, employees, and customers. It is degrading for women to be told we are incompetent to care for our offices and co-workers. Tell us the factual medical standards needed to be safe (spare us the divisive political commentary please) and the nation will have hundreds of millions working together for the safety of all with far more dedication than the executives in the state and federal capitals can offer. But, then, don’t just tell us, trust us.  

The executive branches in federal and state governments already have agencies in health, labor, and education to advise, not bully, on how to follow necessary regulations. If leaders do not trust their departments to do a good job, get new leaders.

Women worked hard to gain financial security; we do not want to replace it with financial dependence on the government. We can make sure people wear their PPE and follow healthy guidelines. State and federal lawmakers could save hundreds of billions of dollars by providing employers and employees with masks and antibody tests rather than shackling all doors shut and sending out unemployment checks. Women know how to do this for their families, we can certainly do it for the country. We can get back to work.