With the COVID-19 vaccine rollout underway, it’s time to start planning for life after the pandemic. Like many women-led companies, we were alarmed to read reports about how the global Coronavirus pandemic rolled back decades of steady progress towards workforce equality.

Around the world, women were more likely to lose their jobs than men: because the hardest-hit sectors, like the service industry and business administration, employed higher percentages of women, and because women still disproportionately bear the burdens and emotional stress of childcare, domestic tasks, and caring for elderly and sick family members – the so-called “double shift”.  

The She-cession: the Economic Impact of the Pandemic on Women

During the pandemic, these burdens only increased, often undermining women’s ability to balance work and family responsibilities. Forbes reports that 865,000 women left the U.S. workforce in September 20201 – when children began virtual school from the kitchen table. Similarly, consultants at McKinsey & Company reported that 1 in 3 North American mothers considered leaving the workforce this year in direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In Italy, the numbers for women are even grimmer, according to ISTAT, The Italian National Institute of Statistics, of those who have lost their jobs, 98% are women.  She-cession, the recession for women, caused by the pandemic  is not a local phenomenon but a global one.

The She-Covery: Supporting Women in the Workplace Post-Covid19

How can we work together to counter this? By promoting the “she-covery” and supporting programs to help women re-train, re-skill, and continue to push forwards. One year of global lockdowns has irreversibly changed how we do business; many companies have found that remote work actually benefits their bottom line (for example, by reducing their overhead costs and granting them increased flexibility in their hiring practices) and do not plan to return to their in-person offices after the pandemic ends. This means that many of the jobs that became redundant at the start of the pandemic are likely to stay gone: and the women who relied on them will need to re-envision their careers if they intend to stay in the workforce.  

Opening New Doors 

Luckily, the boom in online technology also opens new doors for women. We are much less tied to our physical locations than we were in 2019, and the work-from-home model has also led to more widespread acceptance of flexible hours. This flexibility broadens our horizons, and can be an important key to promoting diversity and inclusion in the workforce.  

Accessing New Opportunities with Remote Language Learning

When it comes to learning new skills and changing paths, language competency can be key for accessing new, global opportunities. This is where we at Maka can do our part. Maka offers a range of multilingual training courses that favor the development of micro skills including business communications in English, French, Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, and more.

Language courses can be customized for your employees and incorporated into a company welfare program and diversity and inclusion initiatives. We’ve also partnered with Voxy, an award-winning English language learning software that uses artificial intelligence to deliver professional tailored English courses remotely.

We look forward to helping women develop their skills to stay on track in their careers. Keep your eye on this space for our She-covery initiatives.

Contact us to learn more.