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As the coronavirus hits women workers, a recession becomes the ‘Shecession’

Women account for 55% of the more than 20.5 million workers who lost their jobs in April due to the coronavirus pandemic, causing some experts to call this recession — the worst since the Great Depression — the “Shecession.”

“One of the biggest impacts of this pandemic is the loss of jobs, the loss of income, which has been disproportionately affecting women,” said Carole Biewener, professor of economics and women’s and gender studies at Simmons University in Boston. “And that’s unusual in a recession.”

In recent economic downturns, including the Great Recession of 2008, the sectors that tended to be hardest-hit were male-dominated ones, including construction and manufacturing, Biewener said. But in this recession, 1 out of 3 jobs lost were in the leisure and hospitality industries, which have greater percentages of women working in them, she said.

Su Zhang, 59, of Boston and her husband are Green Card holders from China who both were laid off from their restaurant jobs in March. Although her husband has been receiving unemployment benefits, Zhang has received only a one-week payment because a relative who tried to help with her application misspelled her first name.

“I worry so much about paying our bills that I can’t sleep, and I started losing my hair; my doctor said it was related to stress,” she said through a translator. “I’m not sure what the future looks like. I’m afraid at my age, it will be difficult to find another job.”

Women of color have been particularly affected. Overall, the unemployment rate for women went from 4% in March to 15.5% in April, compared to 9% to 13% for men, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For Black women, the rate in April was 16.4%, and for Latinas, it was 20.2%.

Beth Humberd, an assistant professor of management at the Manning School of Business at UMass Lowell, said one of the main reasons for women’s professional advancement over the past two decades was because families with two working parents could rely on school, day care, after-school programs and, during the summer, camps for their children.

“In a matter of days,” Humberd said, “all of those boundaries between work and home lives collapsed, and all of those support systems went away due to the pandemic.”

Some day care centers and summer camps have not reopened in Massachusetts, either because they went out of business or because they have not met strict new guidelines. But even with those safety measures, Humberd said, some parents don’t feel comfortable sending their children into such restricted environments where the same play and care may not exist.

“This could set back decades of progress for women,” she said. “Even as many men have taken on more of a role at home, it’s hard to break down traditional gender roles. Women still bear most of the burden. Without reliable supports, they are being forced to choose between their jobs and their children. And when women leave a job, particularly during a time of economic downturn, it can set back their career immensely. They may never return to work.”

According to a March 30-31 survey of 1,500 people by Syndio, a pay-equity software company, 14% of women and 11% of men said they were considering quitting their jobs because of the family demands the pandemic had created. Another 10% of men and 6% of women said their spouse or partner was considering quitting.

Essential workers in Massachusetts have not had the luxury of not showing up for work, even though they potentially could be exposed to the coronavirus.

“And the stress of worrying about spreading it to your family can be overwhelming,” said Jennifer Fraone, director of corporate partnerships at the Boston College Center for Work and Family.

Noel Lozada, 48, of Danvers, is considered an essential worker because she is a service manager at a Lynn day program for people who are developmentally delayed. Two residents and one staff member in the group home where she works tested positive for the coronavirus, Lozada said.

“I’m terrified of giving the virus to my sons,” one of whom is at particular risk because he has chronic asthma, she said.

Before the pandemic, Lozada also had two other jobs: one cleaning homes and another working at a pizzeria. She lost both.

“I can’t make payments on my credit cards, but how else do you eat?” she said. “I’m just trying to keep my head above water, but I can’t swim. I come home from work and just go into my room sometimes because I don’t want my sons to see me cry.”