Insight on Business

28 | I NSIGH T • A p r i l 2 0 2 1 w w w . i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m > insight insider B y J e s s i c a T h i e l Pandemic disproportionately affects working women Taxing toll When Wisconsin shuttered all public and private schools last March, Kris Mathis and her family had to adjust quickly, just like countless others throughout the state and nation. Mathis, a teacher at Appleton's James Madison Middle School, faced the added challenge of making the abrupt switch to teaching in a new way, all while helping her two elementary school-aged sons acclimate to their new routine. When it came time to make decisions about the 2020-21 school year, Mathis found herself struggling and feeling anxious about managing her sons' learning while teaching full time. Her husband, Jason Mathis, a site supervisor for Arla Foods, was an essential worker, and the two didn't feel comfortable turning to Jason's parents for child care. Knowing other child care options were limited and facing worry about bringing the virus into the house if they did send their kids for outside care, Mathis asked the school district for a leave of absence and opted to have her two sons, now in third and fih grade, attend school virtually for this school year. e eighth-grade math teacher says with the kids learning from home, she felt the need to advocate for them and oversee their learning closely. "at was a tough, tough decision," Mathis says. "Looking back on it, it was probably the best decision we could have made." Mathis was able to receive some pay initially through the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, but her family has now had to adjust to becoming a one- income household. at will change in the fall, when Mathis plans to return to teaching and have her sons go back to in-person learning, but she says staying home to help see her family through this challenging time was the best option. Mathis is one of an estimated 2.3 million women who have le the workforce since the beginning of the pandemic. e National Women's Law Center reported in February that women's labor force participation rate decreased to 57 percent, the lowest rate since 1988. At the same time, an estimated 1.8 million men also have le the workforce since February 2020. e pandemic has laid bare longstanding women's issues that have now reached a crisis point: lack of access to affordable child care, income inequality, work that tends to be undervalued and the outsized role many women play in domestic life, whether in the area of household work or caring for children or aging parents. Marc Schaffer, an economics professor and director of the Center for Business & Economic Analysis at St. Norbert College, says the gender wage gap issue — women earned 81 cents on the dollar compared to men in 2020 — is longstanding. In addition, as dual-income families grappled with who would stay home if needed during the pandemic, the person to do so oen has been the woman. Schaffer says the wage gap has exacerbated the problem. "If we didn't have that existing wage gap issue, I don't think it would be the severity at which we're seeing some of the challenges of women in particular falling out of the labor force." Low-income and minority women, many of whom work in the service industry, have faced an added disadvantage in that most must physically show up for work and lack access to the flexibility of working from home. If an entire sector, such as the service industry, shuts down as it did early in the pandemic, it creates an immediate problem for certain populations, Schaffer says. Cascading challenges Lisa Van Wyk, president and owner of Blaze Sports & Fitness in Appleton, whose services include training for professional and college athletes, had recently moved Blaze to a new location when the pandemic hit. Already, Van Wyk had built her business in the face of adversity in a male-dominated industry. "People don't give you the time of day. Even if you voice your voice, you're not necessarily heard," she says. e mounting stresses for Van Wyk included the responsibility she felt for Vicki Updike, founder of New Sage Strategies, speaks at her Women's Leadership Conference event. Updike says the pandemic has been particularly taxing for working women, who must balance multiple responsibilities all while losing vital support systems. N E W S A G E S T R AT E G I E S

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