海角大神

Episode transcript

Emily Martin: The pandemic has hit women particularly hard.

Jess Huang: One in 4 women have considered leaving the workforce.

C. Nicole Mason: 鈥� and all those jobs were lost by women, particularly women of color.  

Yarleny Roa-Dugan: We鈥檙e put in there to sacrifice ourselves for the better good of everybody else. 

Christine Hudman Pardy: Like, you just feel targeted. It鈥檚 like, 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 work.鈥� 

Tonya Walls: We are at a tipping point, I think, in our country. 

 [Music]

Jessica Mendoza: The pandemic has done a real number on our workforce. But no demographic has been more affected than women. They鈥檝e lost the most jobs, faced the most burnout. And we鈥檝e leaned on them heavily to get us through the past year-plus.  

Samantha Laine Perfas: And even though the U.S. is now recovering some of those losses, we still need to process the collective trauma that is COVID-19. 

Mendoza: In this podcast, we鈥檒l hear from women about their pandemic experience: what they鈥檝e lost 鈥� and how they鈥檙e winning it back.

[Music]

Mendoza: I鈥檓 Jessica Mendoza. 

Laine Perfas: And I鈥檓 Samantha Laine Perfas. We鈥檙e reporters for 海角大神. This is Stronger.

[Music]

Laine Perfas: We got to know six women from different walks of life for this series. Through their stories, we understood how hard this year has been for women, in ways familiar and unexpected. But we also saw how strong they are, and where they see hope for themselves and their families as we move toward post-pandemic life in the US. 

Mendoza: We鈥檙e excited to share their stories with you in our next episodes. But first, we thought it was important to talk about how we got here. So in this episode, we lay out what went down for women in 2020 and where we are today. 

[Music]

Mason: At the beginning of 2020, we were celebrating this milestone 鈥� the fact that were of .

Laine Perfas: That鈥檚 C. Nicole Mason. She鈥檚 the president and CEO of the Institute for Women鈥檚 Policy Research.  

Mason: And then the pandemic hits. And by March, all those gains had been all but wiped out. More than over the first two months of the pandemic. Women lost jobs at a rate four times more than men. And that was because women were concentrated in the hardest hit sectors 鈥�

Mendoza: 鈥� leisure and hospitality, education, and service and retail. 

Laine Perfas: These are sectors that often require workers to come in, to show up in person. And a lot of the jobs in these sectors tend to be lower paid, with less stability and fewer benefits. 

Emily Martin: We鈥檝e seen lots of progress in our collective understanding of women鈥檚 competence and women鈥檚 leadership. 

Laine Perfas: That鈥檚 Emily Martin, the vice president for education and workplace justice at the National Women鈥檚 Law Center. They do a lot of research on women in the labor force.  

Martin: But we also do see women continuing to be overrepresented in lower paid occupations and industries, in part because we continue to assign a lower value to work women do. 

Mendoza: When you combine all that with a pandemic that forces people to stop face-to-face interactions? It only makes sense that those jobs 鈥� women鈥檚 jobs 鈥� were the ones that disappeared first and fastest.   

Martin: We have lost a generation of progress in women鈥檚 workforce participation. Since March 2020, have left the workforce entirely. Right now, 57 percent of adult women are either working or looking for work. That is the lowest level we鈥檝e seen since 1988. 

Mendoza: That鈥檚 basically our whole lifetimes. 

Laine Perfas: I mean, literally, Jess, you were born in 1988, and I was born shortly after. 

Mendoza: It鈥檚 crazy! But seriously 鈥� it鈥檚 a real issue. For one thing, something like were either the only ones making money, or the breadwinners, in their families. 

Martin: Families depend on women鈥檚 income. It is the minority of families where women are just sort of working for extras. 

Mendoza: At the same time, women were still in charge of most of the caregiving work at home. 

Laine Perfas: For some, it鈥檚 taking care of super young kids who aren鈥檛 in school. Others, they had to manage remote learning. And then others had older relatives who also needed care.

Mason: So before the pandemic, women were already responsible for 30 percent more of care taking responsibilities in families.

Laine Perfas: That鈥檚 C. Nicole Mason again.

Mason: That doubled or tripled during the pandemic, in addition to having to maintain full time work. For some women who were not able to work remotely, really having to make the tough decision between work and taking care of their family. The expectation is that women would figure it out. 

Mendoza: This was true for most women, across the board. But there were disparities based on race and ethnicity, too. The data changes a bit with every new jobs report. But in general, the unemployment rate for white women than . Here鈥檚 Emily Martin again:

Martin: The face of job loss in this recession has been a woman鈥檚 face and probably a woman of color, again, because this recession has really hit low-paid jobs where Black women, Latinas, Native women, are overrepresented.

[Music]

Mendoza: Of course, things have been getting better over the past few months. Job numbers are going up, restaurants and theaters are back in business 鈥� not as many as before, maybe, but they鈥檙e there. People are traveling like crazy. 

Laine Perfas: But the pandemic had other effects that haven鈥檛 gone away. This was a really traumatic year for so many people, not just women. And we can鈥檛 just march forward, pretending it never happened. Instead we should be asking: What have we learned?

Martin: What the pandemic has really shone a spotlight on is all the weak points in our system that just depend on women sacrificing, holding it together, doing without, giving up their job, not eating lunch so their kids can eat. That is what the pandemic has made clear: how we depend on all of those women making individual sacrifices in their lives.

Mendoza: What do we lose as a country when we lose women from the workforce at the rates that we鈥檝e been seeing, like even if 鈥� even if we were able to get back those numbers, what have we lost this past year?

Martin: Well, employers have lost a lot of expertise and talent. You know, when we set up our systems in a way that makes it hard for folks who have a lot to offer on the job, that makes it really hard for them to work, then employers lose. 

We also lose some of the gains that have been so important in recent decades in our collective imagination and understanding of what it is that women do. In our collective imagination and understanding of women as leaders and as talented people who do a lot more than the important work of caring for families.

You know, these gains were hard-fought and important for all of us, both for the stability and financial security of individual families, but also for the broader culture.

[Music]

Mendoza: And this is why we did this series: To understand what women have experienced throughout this pandemic on a personal level. But also to think through what we need to do as a society to better support and value women. Because doing that makes it better for all of us. And if there is a silver lining to any of this, it鈥檚 that some of that thinking is already starting to happen. Here鈥檚 C. Nicole Mason again: 

Mason: What鈥檚 been amazing about this moment is that it鈥檚 really provided us [space] to have some conversations that many of us, many working women, were having in private and internalizing. And they鈥檝e become public conversations, that鈥檚 just like: 鈥淲hy are we thinking about it this way instead of this way?鈥�

Laine Perfas: Facing these issues head on is challenging, for sure, but doing so collectively can lead to real change in a way that doesn鈥檛 rely on individual women just 鈥渉olding it all together.鈥�

Mason: There鈥檚 something wrong with a system where I can鈥檛 be successful in my career or I have to make the choice between my career and taking care of a family. You know, I鈥檝e been doing this work for two decades and women before me have been doing this work for much longer. But I want it to be different for my daughter and my son.

Hopefully we can knock down these barriers once and for all. And so that鈥檚 what this moment represents for me, and I think all of us who are on the front lines right now.  

[Music]

Mendoza: So. In the coming episodes, you鈥檒l hear from each of the women we met. They all work in different industries. primarily the ones that we mentioned before 鈥� the ones that were most affected. 

Laine Perfas: They also all live in Las Vegas. The economy there was really devastated by the pandemic. 

Mendoza: We spent time with them on Zoom and in person over the past few months. And they were such a great reminder that women are awesome. And awesome women are everywhere. 

Laine Perfas: We hope you鈥檒l join us in this series. In our next episode, it鈥檚 showtime. 

Mendoza: We鈥檒l meet Christine Hudman Pardy, a performer, wife, mother鈥�

Laine Perfas: And dreamer extraordinaire! 

Hudman Pardy: My show ran here for 15 years, I mean, it was like the number one show in Vegas. But what do you do when the show closes? You have to be more than the girl who is just the lead on that show. You have to figure that out: when the show closes, the best part of you is still alive and vibrant.

Laine Perfas: We can鈥檛 wait for you to meet her. If you鈥檙e excited for this series, please rate and review us! You can find all our episodes by searching for 鈥淪tronger鈥� on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Stitcher. Or visit csmonitor.com/stronger.  

Mendoza: This episode was reported and produced by me, Jessica Mendoza. 

Laine Perfas: And me, Samantha Laine Perfas.

Mendoza: Edited by Clay Collins and Mark Trumbull. Sound design by Morgan Anderson and Noel Flatt. Brought to you by 海角大神, copyright 2021.

[Music]

Laine Perfas: So Jess, what did you love about reporting this whole series?

Mendoza: I mean, the pets were pretty ridiculous. 

Mendoza: What is 鈥� what is that squeaking sound? 

Jaelynn Ciballos: Sorry, it鈥檚 the birds! We have birds in our house.

Laine Perfas: I also loved all the kiddos 鈥� 

Leya Roa-Dugan: Baby Babble

Yarleny Roa-Dugan: She鈥檚 very cute. She鈥檚 playing with her 鈥� [shows toy puppies]  

Laine Perfas: Oh, Paw Patrol! That鈥檚 so cute. 

Mendoza: There were also a lot of great Zoom bloopers 鈥� 

Hudman Pardy: I am also noticing that I鈥檓 鈥淧hyllis鈥� on this thing and wondering if I need to change that or if it really matters.  

Laine Perfas: Who am I? 

Laine Perfas: Again, you can find 鈥淪tronger鈥� wherever you get your podcasts or visit csmonitor.com/stronger.

END