Worcester Business Journal

16 Worcester Business Journal | February 8, 2021 | wbjournal.com F O C U S W O M E N I N L E A D E R S H I P "We're a community bank and this is why we are here - to support our neighbors when they need us the most. If you are a business in need of support during these trying times, call us!" Michael Welch, CEO Connecting all offices: 800.578.4270 • www.unibank.com Member FDIC/Member DIF Paycheck Protection Program Loans Apply at unibank.com or call 800.578.4270. to child care support, for example, she said, or to putting women into leadership positions who can then better prioritize such needs. "Unless they're there to design those policies," Murphy said of women, those policies "are going to continue to have biases in them." Murphy said she's not very opti- mistic employers will quickly change post-pandemic, or that the federal government, focused on vaccination efforts and other immediate needs, will soon take up the challenge. McKinsey, the management firm, has urged a proactive response from governments to get women back into the workforce in a better way. Without intervention, McKinsey said, "this would not just set back the cause of gender equality but also hold back the global economy." Doing nothing will cost $1 trillion in global gross domestic product by 2030, according to McKinsey. But addressing the issue through employer- or publicly-funded child care, for example, or less tangible attitude changes about women's roles in society, the firm said, could add $5 trillion to $13 trillion to global GDP in the next decade, depending on how aggressive those steps are. In Central Massachusetts, the MassHire office is helping with job retraining programs and talking with state officials and counterparts in other states about how best to respond to the recession. Some local companies have instituted new flexible hours or remote work policies, neither step of which is costly, said Chelsie Vokes, a labor attorney for the Worcester law firm Bowditch & Dewey. In other cas- es, employers have begun subsidized child care or more generous paid leave. "These are all things that employers can implement immediately," she said. It is steps like those that give advo- cates slight optimism the pandemic could force more direct action to im- prove conditions for working women, or to see remote work or flexible hours aren't so bad after all. "COVID comes along and highlights this very issue," said Nager, the Boston Club president. Her hope, she said, is the issue doesn't fade away once the pandemic does, as can happen with other tempo- rarily important matters. "This is such a core issue," Nager said, "and we haven't dealt with it, really ever." U.S. workforce participation rates Working mothers have made up a greater portion of the workforce in the past quarter- decade, progress that advocates worry will be undone by the recession. 1994 94.1% 69.0% 1995 94.1% 69.8% 1996 94.5% 70.8% 1997 94.6% 71.9% 1998 94.6% 71.8% 1999 94.6% 72.2% 2000 94.7% 72.3% 2001 94.6% 72.1% 2002 94.3% 71.8% 2003 94.1% 71.1% 2004 94.1% 70.4% 2005 94.1% 70.5% 2006 94.1% 70.9% 2007 94.3% 71.0% 2008 94.1% 71.4% 2009 93.8% 71.4% 2010 93.7% 70.8% 2011 93.5% 70.6% 2012 93.1% 70.3% 2013 92.8% 69.9% 2014 92.8% 70.1% 2015 92.7% 69.9% 2016 92.8% 70.5% 2017 92.8% 71.1% 2018 93.3% 71.5% 2019 93.4% 72.3% Year Men Women 1994 95.2% 61.2% 1995 95.5% 62.3% 1996 95.6% 63.2% 1997 95.8% 64.8% 1998 96.1% 64.9% 1999 96.1% 64.8% 2000 96.1% 64.6% 2001 95.8% 64.3% 2002 95.5% 63.7% 2003 95.4% 62.8% 2004 95.4% 61.8% 2005 95.4% 62.8% 2006 95.4% 63.5% 2007 95.7% 63.3% 2008 95.4% 64.0% 2009 95.1% 64.2% 2010 94.7% 63.9% 2011 94.5% 63.9% 2012 94.2% 64.6% 2013 93.9% 63.9% 2014 94.2% 64.2% 2015 93.9% 64.2% 2016 94.0% 64.7% 2017 94.1% 65.1% 2018 94.5% 65.1% 2019 95.0% 66.4% Year Men Women Parents with own children under age 18 Parents with own children under age 6 Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Center for American Progress Continued from Page 15 W

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