(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A leading advocate says women are still lagging far behind men, even as the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic continues.
More than 1 million women have not come back to the workforce after job losses associated with COVID-19, says Felicia Davis Blakely, president and CEO of the Chicago Foundation for Women.
Women may have outnumbered men in the workforce before the pandemic, but not now. Davis Blakely said getting back isn’t an adequate goal.
“Normal wasn’t all that great, either,” she said. “The reality is, there were many inequities. There was the gender pay gap that still persists, but there are also racial pay inequities and racial work gaps that exist as well.
And so, women have been hit doubly hard, particularly women of color.”
Their unemployment rates are higher, she said. She urges corporations and the government to strive to make things better.
The challenges facing women during the recovery is the topic of this weekend’s “At Issue,” which airs 9:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m.
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