Jane Lee* says a study has found that almost one in four women considered leaving the workforce during the pandemic.
Almost a quarter of women have considered quitting the workforce altogether during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new international survey has found.
The survey found that women felt workloads both at home and at work had intensified during COVID.
International consultancy firm Deloitte spoke to 5,000 women in 10 countries, including women in Australia, India, the US and the UK.
Globally, 77 per cent of women interviewed said their workload had increased since the crisis began and 66 per cent said they bear the greatest responsibility for household tasks.
As well as 23 per cent of working women considering leaving the workforce, 57 per cent said they planned to leave their current employer in the next two years, which showed women were feeling less loyal to their employer, according to the study.
Chief strategy officer of Deloitte Australia Claire Harding said women were interviewed from a range of industries, from hospitality to finance, and more than half were feeling less optimistic about their career prospects today than before the pandemic.
“What we see in the survey is that Australian women are actually faring very similarly to women across the world,” she said.
She said results in Australia were slightly better than in other countries but that the same general trends applied.
“The number of women who would say that they have good job satisfaction, good wellbeing, both mental and physical, and even their own perceptions of their productivity — the number of women has gone down in all of those categories.”
If women leave the workforce, those remaining could be further marginalised
In the first two months of the pandemic, women’s workforce participation in Australia fell about 3.5 percentage points, according to economist Leonora Risse.
“All it takes is just for a few women to drop out of the workforce and suddenly the remaining women find themselves in an even smaller minority,” Dr Risse said.
“Then they might become the token women and their voice and their input get sidelined and marginalised even more.
“We might assume that we’re on some upward linear trajectory in terms of progress but a shock can just hit and then suddenly that progress is reversed.”
Ms Harding said employers could respond to the threat of women leaving the workforce by improving workplace inclusively with more flexible work arrangements and parental leave policies.
“Gender equity is really important, pay equity, equity in promotions and then programs around wellbeing, physical, mental, social, financial wellbeing are going to be important,” she said.
“Secondly, culture, an inclusive culture, making sure that women understand their career opportunities and listening to women and asking them what they need.”
*Jane Lee is a general news reporter at the ABC.
This article first appeared at abc.net.au.
