This year has been the year where the working mother has fought harder than any other year to hang on to the years of work for equal pay and equal opportunity in the workplace. According to Hired.com, the wage gap is widening in 2020. 63% of men earn higher salaries than their female counterparts.
If you align this with the knowledge that women are more likely to want to stay home to care for their children, another stat shared by the same source, it is easy to see that we are taking steps backward in equity. If the working mother is compensated less it is more economically feasible that she will stay home. If she desires to care for her children or feels the guilt creep commonly discussed about the safety of our children in schools, she is again more likely to stay home.
This article provided key-insights into what we already know to be true this year. What can we do to help solve this issue?
We have a responsibility to work to understand what our tribe is experiencing. My female doctor friends are dealing with different issues than my female business owner friends. I don’t know a single person who is not faced with the constant desire to plan in a year where it is nearly impossible.
Our job is to lean in hard to the areas that we can help, ride-sharing, meals, child care, walks, lending an ear (all socially distanced, of course).
There are so many things that we cannot do this year we need to look for the spaces where we can help to ensure that we are able to keep our foothold and secure our positions of growth in the workforce.