The recession of 2007-2009 was nicknamed the “mancession” by some, according to Wendy Pollack of The Shriver Center on Poverty Law because men lost more jobs than women in both absolute numbers and percent reduction in employment during this time. And though a recent report by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research says that women are gaining jobs back faster than men, Pollock analyzes how this isn’t exactly good news for women’s equality in the workplace.
“A closer look at the areas in which men and women have gained and lost jobs in the years following 2007 reveals that the United States still has a long way to go before we can declare that women are equal to, let alone outperforming, men in the job market,” says Pollock. She says that women are disproportionately represented in industries such as education, healthcare, leisure and hospitality – all which fared quite well in the downturn. However, the jobs benefitting women in these sectors are low security and low wage, so even though these industries have added over 1.6 millions jobs to the market since June of 2009, 1.1 million of which went to women, the gender gap persists.
