海角大神

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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.听听

Samantha Laine Perfas:听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.听

Mendoza:听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.

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Mendoza: I鈥檓 Jessica Mendoza.听

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

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Laine Perfas:听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.听

Mendoza:听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.听

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

Mendoza:听鈥� leisure and hospitality, education, and service and retail.听

Laine Perfas:听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.听

Laine Perfas:听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.听听

Mendoza:听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.听 听

Mendoza:听That鈥檚 basically our whole lifetimes.听

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

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.听

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

Laine Perfas:听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.

Laine Perfas:听That鈥檚 C. Nicole Mason again.

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:

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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.听

Laine Perfas:听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?

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?

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Mendoza:听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:听

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�

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Mendoza:听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.听

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

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.听

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

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

Laine Perfas: And dreamer extraordinaire!听

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.听听

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

Laine Perfas: And me, Samantha Laine Perfas.

Mendoza:听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.

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

Mendoza:听I mean, the pets were pretty ridiculous.听

Laine Perfas:听I also loved all the kiddos 鈥撎�

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

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

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