Women’s Jobs Are Vanishing. We’re Going To Have To Deal With That Eventually.

At the start of this pandemic, your author here harbored a cautious optimism. Yes, businesses were shuttering. Yes, people were going to lose their jobs. The devastation, the pain, the loss cannot be overstated. But in the wake of it all, perhaps—perhaps—what would emerge was a more humane work culture that finally, for once, understood what millions of women in this country have to deal with. Those early zoom months seemed so fertile with possibility; suddenly there was no escaping the din and clamor of home life, children begging for attention or starved for entertainment, barking dogs and dinging washing machines. With the distractions of home life now inescapable, perhaps eyes would be open to how these demands disproportionately weighed on the women expected to balance them on top of work. Perhaps people would grow more understanding of the interruptions that come with having a family (something women are so often arbitrarily punished for), and maybe our work culture would come out the other side more compassionate and better suited for a balanced life.