The pandemic has proved disproportionately hard for women, but hybrid working potentially offers a future of more equal opportunities and a more equitable sharing of family responsibilities.
Over the past year there has been much talk of a ‘she-cession’, with women affected much harder than men by pandemic-enforced closures in sectors such as hospitality, entertainment, leisure and retail.
More vulnerable to the pandemic than men
According to McKinsey, women’s jobs were 1.8 times more vulnerable to the pandemic crisis than men. And while women make up 39% of global employment, they accounted for 54% of overall job losses.
A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute found that black women were over 30% more likely to be out of work during the pandemic than white men.
As Melinda Gates put it, ‘When the world’s economies were pushed to the brink, it was women who fell over the edge‘.
Women have also long suffered from the effects of working a ‘double shift’ – a full day of work followed by hours spent caring for children and doing household chores. And as the principal carers in relationships, they are often stigmatised in the workplace for leaving the office early or taking time off for family reasons.
The future for women in the workplace is now in the spotlight as the world moves out of the pandemic, with both governments and employers looking to introduce measures to address what has become a very hot topic, with one in four women reported to be contemplating downshifting their careers or leaving the workforce completely.
As McKinsey puts it, ‘The choices companies make today will have consequences on gender equality for decades to come‘.
Evening things up
The hybrid working model can play a key role in evening up the gender imbalance. Before the pandemic, there was already a push to encourage remote and flexible working as a way of keeping women in the workplace while allowing them to look after young children.
Yet this also brought challenges. So-called ‘distance biases’ means that those who work from home full-time often find themselves left out of the informal networking that happens in an office, which can in turn result in poorer pay and promotion prospects.
“If going to the office becomes a status symbol, at least among knowledge workers, our concern is that men will be gifted more exclusive or privileged access to it than women.”
– Harvard Business Review
In the hybrid working world, however, everyone gets a turn in the office and a chance to shine. And if both parents in a family work in a hybrid way, they can split household responsibilities, with men taking their fair share of picking up kids from school or caring for toddlers.
“Our data shows that for women and men (especially caregivers) a hybrid workplace matters most – one that blends work and home and allows them autonomy to work in a way that suits them.”
– Michelle Nettles, ManpowerGroup
Joanne Bushell | Managing Director | VP Sales in Africa | Regus | IWG plc | mail me |
