After the pandemic forced us into lockdown across the country, the disparity between races has only increased. However, a greater inequality has been shown time and time again. Women constantly get the short end of the stick, and this inequality has only increased over the pandemic. 

Women have always been expected to perform domestic chores, and only in the last century, have they really had the right to participate in events other than washing the dishes. The suffrage movement in the 1920s really paved the way for women to be able to vote, earn money, and be proper citizens of America. 

However, many women are still looked down on today, and microaggressions in workplaces, schools, and the community have not decreased in any way. Because of this long-established bias against women, we have to prove our worth so that men stop looking at us as objects, and show that we are people of high intellect and an asset to any job that we work on. 

Many people have lost their jobs during the pandemic, and it comes as no surprise that women have lost more jobs than men. From reports made by the Bureau of Labor Statists, a National Women’s Law Center’s analysis shows us the true records of jobs lost. 

“Not only did the U.S. workforce lose 140,000 jobs in December, but women lost a net 156,000 jobs, while men gained a net 16,000,” wrote Forbes writer Maggie McGrath. This means that women lost 100% of the jobs lost in December. 

Sadly to say, I am not surprised. Because of biases and hardships over this pandemic, it comes as no surprise that women have not re-applied for lost jobs, and this number will keep going up. The author of the NWLC analysis, Claire Ewing-Nelson, notes that 2.1 million women have lost jobs months ago, and have completely given up looking for jobs. 

However, we cannot forget about biases against women of color as well. Even though the unemployment rate of women over December is 6.3%, there are harsher disparities between communities of color. 8.4% of Black women are unemployed, and 9.1% of Latinas are unemployed. Why is this happening?

“I think that women are often assigned the job of caregiver, so when kids were no longer physically in school, women were the ones who had to stay home to care for their children,… [and] I think that as long as we have stereotypes against women, people will continue to resist change, maybe even women themselves.,” mentioned Jaime Turner. 

This means that as self-quarantine became a norm, women were expected to perform domestic chores and take care of children, as the men are the main breadwinners of the family. Condemning men is not the purpose of this article, and it is not wrong to have a male be the main breadwinner. However, in my opinion, it is not correct for women to not be able to look for new jobs as a result of domestic stress. 

“It’s not viewed as a negative for a family to have the … woman of the house to be the main breadwinner… As a man, or as a father or as a teacher, I would not mind at all being in a situation where I [am] not the main breadwinner” commented Richard Hanson.

As Hanson pointed out, times are definitely changing, slowly but surely. Though the pandemic and jobs for women have an adverse connotation, this is only a minor setback to the community. From owning land to voting rights, and now, Vice President, women have come a long way in the last 100 years. The world continues to change for the better, and immediate actions can lead to faster results. 

“I think one huge way to combat it [bias] is to educate people and… see progress and change in action! Change really does start by example, breaking through barriers and paving a new path for young people,” said Turner. 

We have come a long way, and with the swearing-in of the first female Vice President, we are making history every day.