The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a 'female-recession,' researchers say
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced more women to drop out of the workforce, according to researchers.
Between August and September, the COVID-19 pandemic caused more than a million Americans to drop out of the labor force, most of them being women.
Some, however, are not calling it a female recession.
According to the United States Department of Labor, 865,000 women across many industries have left the workforce between August and September.
One in four women consider downshifting their career or consider leaving the workplace early, something they thought was unthinkable less than a year ago, according to a report from McKinsey and Company.
As a pandemic hits families financially, many women are forced to stay at home to take care of the family.
SEE RELATED STORY: COVID-19 has caused 50% of Texans to experience financial hardship
The terms "female-recession" or "she-cession" have been coined to recognize the detrimental effect the pandemic has had on women in the workplace.
Nicole Woitowich, a researcher at Northwestern University, shared her findings on the female-recession in her latest article. It shows additional childcare responsibilities have caused fewer female scientists to publish in biomedical research.
"The more women we have at the table who are doing the science, who are providing the health care, I think the better health outcomes we have for everyone if we have a diverse workforce," said Woitowich.
From 2008 to 2009, a similar recession occurred when the stock market crashed. It was coined the "man-cession," and it took years for jobs to return in male-dominated industries.
