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2020’s Silver Lining for Women

By December 31, 2020August 2nd, 2023From Susan

How Covid-19 Has Changed Work for the Better

So long 2020!

I can’t imaging there’s a single person on this planet who is not relieved to say goodbye to this monstrous year. Plenty has already been written and rehashed about the turmoil that Covid-19 wrought on our lives in 2020, so I won’t go there.

But before the clock strikes midnight, I want to share something that is both positive and staggering.

Covid-19 made corporate America wake up to the needs of women and their families!

Just a year ago we were living in a work world that was completely out of touch with how real women live. Almost every significant position or hope-to-be significant job was tagged with an invisible yet powerful note that mandated all important work must be done from nine to five while sitting in an uncomfortable and likely physically cold office. (Much has been written about the temperature preferences of men vs women.)

Then poof! Covid-19 came, offices shut down and the old work model – born of men who left their wives home to manage domestic duties decades ago – was shattered.

Now, with nearly all “office” jobs handled remotely, the work-from-home taboo is not only obsolete, but it also has positioned corporate America for a sea change in terms of overall flexibility.  This is incredibly important because not having the flexibility to care for a child or loved one while working has historically pushed millions of women to leave the workplace, costing them, and our economy, dearly.  (A study from Goldman Sachs’ Global Markets Institute found that leaving the workforce for five years to raise children could cost women 20 percent of their earnings potential, although that time period represents only one-eighth of their working years.)

All of this does nothing to diminish the many horrors of Covid-19 or the heavy burden that women have carried as predominate essential workers and family caretakers.

But in all of this tragedy there is light: Finally, women leaders who are also moms can be on equal footing with their male counterparts and have a fighting chance to reach their career goals with fewer wrenching sacrifices.

It’s our silver lining.

  • Susan

P.S. A Case for Women has offered remote working and flexible hours since our company launch almost five years ago!