The pandemic’s impact on women

As we approach the two-year anniversary of COVID-19 being declared a pandemic (March 11) and equal pay day (March 24), a date to raise awareness for the gender pay gap, economics professor Susan Averett provides insight on how the two are intertwined. The economic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic hit women—and women of color, in particular—disproportionately hard. When their roles within the labor force became at odds with their roles as caregivers in the home, millions left their jobs—a significant loss that will have long-term impacts on everything from homeownership to birth rates to who will have a seat at the table in boardrooms and who will have the opportunity to make scientific discoveries. “It will take years for women to make up the ground lost from this ‘shecession,’ says Averett, whose new book, “Women in the Workforce: What Everyone Needs to Know,” is out March 1. It’s a topic Averett discusses with students in Women and the Economy, a course that covers a wide range of economic issues relating to women’s lives.

• Susan Averertt is a Charles A. Dana Professor of Economics at Lafayette College. Her areas of specialization include applied microeconometrics with emphasis on topics in demographic, labor economics, health economics. Her teaching and research interests include econometrics, gender, and the economy, Women in the workforce, women in STEM, child care subsidies, fertility and children’s outcomes.
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