For working women, a recession like no other

So many women lost their jobs during the pandemic-led downturn this spring that it has acquired a title: the “she-cession.” In past recessions, men bore the brunt of the job losses. In the 1970s and ’80s, women’s long-term move into the job market was so strong that an economic contraction would barely register in their job numbers. But this pandemic recession has turned past patterns on their head. It has hit hard many of the sectors where female workers predominate, so that their job losses outnumbered job losses for men.

For female entrepreneurs, it’s a similar story. They, too, made gains over the decades and now own more than half of the sole proprietorships in the United States, according to a recent survey. But many of their businesses are concentrated in sectors, such as retail and leisure and hospitality, that have suffered from the lockdowns imposed by the coronavirus.