Dec. 28, 2021 "Is the 'she-cession' over? Statistics point to recovery, experts aren't so sure": Today I found this article on CBC news:
When Alicia Dempster started her maternity leave in June 2019, she never dreamed that she would still be at home two and a half years later.
The Stouffville, Ont., woman fully intended to return to her job as an event planner for an area municipality after 15 months at home caring for her infant son and his toddler brother.
But COVID-19 derailed those plans. When her planned return-to-work date rolled around, the complete absence of public events meant the job she once had no longer existed. The alternative work her employer offered her — cutting grass and picking weeds with the parks department — seemed a poor match for her skills, so she opted to stay home "just a little longer."
Now, her sons are five and two and a half and the Omicron variant is on the rise.
Like many Canadian women, Dempster is not only concerned about how long she's been out of the workforce, but should she find a job, she knows she'll be juggling the demands of work and parenting, including COVID tests and mandatory isolation every time one of her children gets a cough or the sniffles.
While recent data suggests a jobs recovery for working age women, the statistics fail to capture the whole picture, one in which many women are still struggling to balance work and family life.
Job quality over quantity
Early in the pandemic, much was written about the disproportionate toll of COVID-19 on the finances and career prospects of Canadian women.
Female-dominated industries like accommodation and food services were the hardest-hit by restrictions and lockdowns, and many women also suffered from a lack of child care as daycares and schools shut down in those early months.
Even one year on, in March 2021, employment among women remained about 5.3 per cent below where it sat in February 2020, compared to a drop of about 3.7 per cent for men, according to a report from the Labour Market Information Council.
But as the economy gradually reopened over the summer and fall, women's prospects improved. Canada as a whole caught up with its pre-pandemic job numbers in September of this year, and according to Statistics Canada, the only age group of women that has yet to recover to its pre-pandemic employment level is the 55-plus category.
"Now if you look at younger women, their employment rate is higher than it was before the pandemic. A little more than one percentage point higher," said University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe.
"It's the same story for the 25-54 age group — their employment rate is one percentage point higher."
But Armine Yalnizyan, a Toronto-based economist and the Atkinson Foundation's Fellow on the Future of Workers, cautions against declaring the "she-cession" over. She pointed out that statistics offer an aggregate look at a population, and many individual women are still struggling with the impacts of the pandemic on their careers and finances.
In addition, Yalnizyan said, it's crucial to remember that Statistics Canada employment data only looks at the "quantity" of jobs, not "quality" — a key part of the story when it comes to COVID-19 and its affect on gender and the workforce.
"The quality of work question is really, really important to the question of what's been happening to women," she said.
"For the 'I'm not able to get a promotion, I've had to change jobs or I have stress about possibly losing my job, I'm barely hanging on because my kids are home half the time,' the binary of 'are you employed or aren't you employed' isn't a very good metric."
Impact on working mothers
Before the pandemic hit, Stephanie Bakker-Houpf of High River, Alta., was excited to finally have time to focus on getting her creative consultancy and content management business off the ground after years of putting her own career dreams on the back-burner to raise her two now-teenage daughters.
But not only did her bread-and-butter contracts with musician and entertainer clients dry up in the absence of live performances last year, the divorced Bakker-Houpf found herself sacrificing precious work time as she helped her daughters with home-schooling and supported them through all of the disruptions and anxieties that go along with being a kid in a pandemic.
"Kids today are constantly dealing with uncertainty and their lives being interrupted. And yet, we as moms are still supposed to be able to function the same way and show up at our jobs the same way," Bakker-Houpf said.
Jennifer Hargreaves, founder and CEO of diversity recruitment organization Tellent — which aims to help women in career transition find new opportunities — said while it's true that as many women may be working now as before the pandemic, the numbers don't tell the whole story.
In fact, Hargreaves said she worries Canadian working women may be heading into another crisis in 2022, as employers begin to urge employees to come back to the office on at least a part-time basis even as schools and daycares continue to struggle with COVID cases and children under five remain unvaccinated.
"What's frightening is some employers seem eager to say, 'we're going back to normal this year,' " Hargreaves said.
"Because what I actually see on the ground is more and more women reaching out and getting mental health support, because they've just got to a tipping point with burnout. And women are taking stress leave."
If women have one thing working in their favour, Hargreaves said, it's the fact that employers across a wide range of industries are struggling with systemic labour shortages right now.
She said she hopes that will spur employers to recognize that the way to retain talent is to continue to prioritize flexibility.
"I hope employers can take the lessons learned during COVID-19 and start implementing them and doing that culture shift," Hargreaves said.
"I think they're absolutely going to need to do that in order to stay agile in this new economy."
Is the 'she-cession' over? Statistics point to recovery, experts aren't so sure | CBC News
Mar. 8, 2022 "Have we learned anything from the she-cession?": Today I found this article by Linda Bicho-Vachon on Bloomberg news:
In April 2020, the female employment rate dropped to its lowest point since 1985, highlighting the disparity between men and women in the workforce, according to a report by RBC Economics. But as the economy recovers and women are wooed back to work, have we learned from the mistakes that drove them away in the first place?
The RBC report said women’s workforce participation fell to 55 per cent amid pandemic-related lockdowns that mainly effected female-dominated industries.
The report also showed that job recovery was slower for women than for men and noted that women with children between the ages of six and 17 were more likely to leave the workforce as they continued to carry the burden of family care.
Experts say the drop in women’s workforce participation can lead to both social and economic consequences.
If women‘s participation rates were equal to men’s, Canada’s economy would see a boost to gross domestic product (GDP) of $100 billion per year, according to Carrie Freestone, an economist with RBC Economics.
Armine Yalnizyan, an economist and Atkinson Fellow on the Future of Workers, said that lower employment rates for women is a business problem when it comes to household spending.
“Fifty-seven per cent of GDP is fueled by household purchasing power,” Yalnizyan said. “When you cut the disposable income of these households, you cut the purchasing power.”
She estimated that 40 per cent of this expenditure comes from women in households with children.
WORKPLACE SUPPORT
More companies are recognizing the value of policies that support the needs of women who are juggling work obligations and family care. A recent survey published by the Human Resources Association (HRPA) on HR Trends reported that 67 per cent of organizations planned to continue to offer hybrid work arrangements.
Offering enhanced parental leave benefits is another way companies can support families in the workplace, yet 54 per cent of employers still do not offer parental leave top-up benefits beyond the basic government program, according to HRPA’s survey.
But this trend could be changing as employers think of new ways to attract employees. Madeleine Nicholls, managing director with commercial real estate brokerage firm Colliers, said the pandemic has brought about changes in strategies to make the workplace more appealing, especially for employees who are juggling family and work obligations.
“COVID has accelerated a lot of things forward,” Nicholls said. “In order to be competitive, we have to offer a hybrid work environment.
Last year, her firm introduced enhanced parental leave to bolster its employee benefits package.
Beyond company policies to help working parents, Yalnizyan said that a public program for affordable day care such as the federal government’s plan for $10 per day child care will level the playing field for even more women to join the labour market.
She said that the shift from a market-driven daycare service to a publicly-managed service “will change the dimensions of the sandbox we all play in.” Yalnizyan was also quick to point out that Ontario, the largest province in the country, has yet to sign on to the plan.
GENDER PAY GAP PERSISTS
Women have also faced a struggle for pay equity. According to the Canadian Women’s Foundation, women earn only 78.6-cents for every dollar earned by men. A report from TD Bank concluded that in a tight labour market, with inflation rates at 30-year highs, wage increases are expected, but it is unclear if these wage increases will be enough to bridge the gender pay gap that continues to exist in Canada.
Heather Ellis, president of the Business and Professional Women Ontario (BPWO) agreed some women may be benefitting from higher wages due to the rush to hire staff in a highly competitive labour market. But she worries about female-dominated sectors that might not benefit from this trend.
“One of my concerns (is) Ontario's subsidies (for personal support workers and direct support workers) are ending the end of March,” she said, referring to Ontario’s temporary wage enhancement program for frontline health care workers. “That $3.00 (per hour) now is so important to their lives, as well as their quality of life.”
Ellis said she also worries about the loss of any progress made to decrease the wage gap due to the high unemployment rate for women during the pandemic. She cited the example of Bill 124 - legislation passed in Ontario that capped wage increases for nurses, nurse practitioners and health care professionals to one per cent for three years starting in 2019 - before the pandemic.
“What has to happen in the workplace is transparency,” Ellis said. “When it becomes apparent what everyone is making, there’s not going to be that natural wage gap.”
The federal government has committed to transparency through its Pay Equity Act that was passed Aug. 31, 2021.
The act requires federally-regulated employers with ten or more employees to ensure that they address any gaps between men and women doing work of equal value.
However, private sector companies are slower to adopt this practice, with only 46 per cent of employers reported to have implemented pay equity, according to HRPA.
Ellis said that having more women in leadership positions is necessary to advocate for policies such as equal pay and more generous family care policies.
“We have to change the model in the workplace,” she said. “We have to make it family-oriented, because realistically, we know it's not just parents that are raising children now. We know the grandparents are having to take custody and do kinship care.”
Nicholls said that having women in a leadership position is also reassuring to other female employees, but it takes effort to build that female presence in the senior ranks.
“It shows ‘we get you’ and can be critical when it comes to shaping policy,” Nicholls said.
As a managing director, Nicholls is involved with hiring at the firm, so she actively reaches out to groups of women that will be graduating in the next two years as one way to build up the talent pool.
“It all starts at the top and making that funnel at the top as wide as possible,” she said.
BENEFITS OF WORKPLACE FLEXIBILITY
Having a more flexible workplace was very important to Kaylie Chow when she decided to leave her job with the federal government in August 2021. Kaylie has aging parents with high needs so the ability to take time when she needed was important to her.
“My last position was one that demanded being responsive and available to a supervisor from 8:30 in the morning to 4:30 in the afternoon and sometimes outside of those hours. So there was zero flexibility for personal needs,” she said.
Prior to accepting her current role as administrative director of Community Legal Services of Ottawa, she was able to negotiate a generous vacation package and was offered a competitive salary that she felt was fair.
As a leader in the organization that is looking to attract employees, she recognizes the value of offering flexibility and support for both men and women who are juggling work and family care responsibilities.
“We need to give up the idea that everyone’s going to work Monday to Friday from nine to five from the office, or that there will be any kind of fixed schedule or fixed location,” she said.
But Chow said she still sees the disparity with women who struggle more at home. She recognizes that more needs to be done within her organization to accommodate their needs.
“There needs to be a shift in male thinking and it’s not even the big strokes,” Chow said.
“There needs to be more recognition of the more subtle ways that women carry the responsibility of household chores.”
Have we learned anything from the she-cession? - BNN Bloomberg
This week's theme is about women in the workplace and the gender pay gap:
"Women's participation in labour market rebounds but pay gaps remain"/ "Tech sector participation and pay gaps persist and in some cases, worsen: report"
http://badcb.blogspot.com/2023/04/womens-participation-in-labour-market.html
"Men got higher pay than women 59% of the time for same U.S. tech jobs"/ "U.S. women had to work 42 more days to earn what men did in 2020"
http://badcb.blogspot.com/2023/04/men-got-higher-pay-than-women-59-of.html
My week:
Mary Divok is a mother and grandmother who has been playing since “the lottery started.” Once she found out she had won the $100,000 prize, she was immediately ecstatic, knowing she was going to share it with “her kids and grandkids,” to go along with a personal upgrade for her day-to-day.
“I will also purchase a brand-new wheelchair and help my granddaughter with her university,” said Divok, while at the OLG Prize Centre in Toronto to pick up her winnings.
https://ca.yahoo.com/news/ontario-grandma-winner-instant-plinko-150652183.html
"A High Schooler Went Viral For Violating Prom Dress Code By Wearing a Suit":
In a statement shared with Teen Vogue, Nashville Christian School said they “respect a student’s right to disagree” but “appropriate prom attire” guidelines were dispersed to students. "The school's expectations regarding appropriate prom attire were communicated to this student and the student's family in advance of the prom. While we certainly respect a student's right to disagree, all of our students know from our school handbook that when they do not follow such expectations at school-sponsored events, they may be asked to leave,” the school said in the statement.
Response has swelled for B Hayes, including from the Instagram account @agirlhasnopresident who boasts 690,000 followers and shared a GoFundMe to “throw the ultimate prom for B & 25 of their closest friends!”
Actress Candice King donated $5,000 and shared the link to her Instagram story. “B, we’re going to make sure you have the prom of your dreams!” King said.
Additional funds will be “split between Oasis Center & Inclusion TN,” according to the fundraising description which also notes that those organizations were chosen by B Hayes. More than $20,000 has already been donated.
https://ca.style.yahoo.com/high-schooler-went-viral-violating-155823766.html
Edmonton Oilers star Evander Kane came to the defence of a 10-year-old fan and cancer patient after she was allegedly mistreated at a game in Los Angeles last week.
With the Oilers taking on the Kings in their first-round series, Cecily Eklund made the trip south of the border to cheer on her favourite team in Game 3. Kane claims the girl was harassed by Kings fans with someone even spitting on her.
“It wasn’t the best experience, but it’s also very important to remember that a couple fans don’t represent the whole fanbase.”
Supporters of both the Oilers and Kings have since rallied behind Cecily, with a number of Kings fans attempting to make up for the poor treatment she received by donating to her charity drive. Cathy said Kings fans had contributed over $7,000 as of Tuesday evening.
Cecily's page has already accumulated nearly $50,000 as of this writing, which is well over its stated goal of $30,000.
Prior to this incident, the child had already fundraised nearly $100,000 after her cancer diagnosis four years ago, per Global News.
Jen Mazer: The Queen of Manifestation/ how to make a mind movie/ "Canada Needs a National Strategy for Eye Care"
funny and annoying (part 2)/ school and job advice/ Forest App/ The Freecycle Network
Apr. 27, 2023 "How INFJs say 'I love you'": I found this on my friend Heather's Facebook page:
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