“She-cession”: Beginning of a transformation of work space
Women across the world are faced with the difficult situation of taking care of their families while maintaining a full-time job due to pandemic. Many find it impossible which has lead to what is referred to as the “she-cession”.
It refers to the withdrawal of women, especially mothers, from the workforce in the U.S. during the pandemic. The unemployment rate for mothers had doubled in 2020 according to the National Women’s Law Centre- a situation which has not changed as expected this year.
In Kimberly Brandt’s opinion, a large number of working women had to quit simply because the boundaries between work life and family life were bedimmed during the pandemic. It is the feminine traits like empathy, compassion and understanding in the workplace that has led a few women to cope with the situation and take work hand-in-hand with their family life.
Brandt, who is the senior strategist at Human Design asserts that for the world that had till now stressed on attaining masculine qualities like assertiveness ad competitiveness, this might be a good chance.
The Amp community has dedicated this month for women to share their challenges, their methods of coping and their views on what changes the industry needs to undergo to aid women better.
According to Andie Tilden Jewett, VP of Business Development, AMP Agency, she has coped with the situation by efficiently dividing her time between taking care of her newborn son and leading her team. She emphasises that it was not an easy task but has only made her a better mother and a better employee.
For Sara Buck, EVP/Partner Experience, Barkley, it was designing a physical work-space for herself that she could isolate from the rest of the ‘home’ that helped her to work efficiently. Rebecca Lysen, Group Creative Director, Night After Night, said that every day during the pandemic was difficult as there was no way to divide an exact line between the mom-time and work-time.
Shannon Engel, General Manager, Night After Night, divided a routine for her kids to keep them occupied during her work time and she asserts that she did it each day, finding novel methods to keep them busy.
While Laura Steele, Director, Business Operations, VOLTAGE, was concerned about her 82-year-old mother, Amy Merenlender, Director, Digital Production, The Experience Design Studio (XDS), had to care for her newborn baby during the work.
Shelley Elkins, Chief Creative Officer, Jack Morton suggests that we need to change our outlook on working women to enhance the working situations for them. She emphasises that there is no division of roles. Any role should be done with 100% dedication. Women should be provided with a chance to make it possible.
Ashley Parker( Head of Client Services, Headed Monster), Dhanuj Selvaraj( Senior Data Strategist, Movement Strategy), Shayna Cohen (VP, Client Services, Laundry Service), Suzanne Barbosa( VP, Account Director, MullenLowe), Carla Guy (Chief Strategy Officer, Dagger), Jane Jo Lee (Director of Business Development, Questus) and many others narrate how they had to work 100% of a day to manage the roles of mother, wife and an employee.
They also mention the strategic planning that they have to make and the realisation of how dangerously they have been managing their duties before the pandemic. They also emphasise that spending time with the family, keeping apart the role as an employee for a moment, need not necessarily make you guilty.
Kasha Cacy (Global CEO, ENGINE), Shannon Engel (General Manager, Night After Night), Sara Buck (EVP/Partner Experience, Barkley), and Andie Tilden Jewett (VP of Business Development, AMP Agency) speaks of how they understood the demands of the women in the workforce to be with their family and play with their kids and helped them manage work and schedule accordingly.
As long as they were willing to work and spend time for their work, they supported them by listening to their issues and trying to be open about mental stress and other issues. Even Bishop (Director of Account Strategy and Planning, Conquer) mentions how they executed half-day Fridays to provide some personal time for the employees.
Kristina McCoobery(Co-Founder and CEO, INVNT), Laura Steele( Director, Business Operations, VOLTAGE), Linda Hogan( Chief Operating Officer, Bader Rutter), Samantha Louise ( Co-Founder and CFO, Versus) and others speak about how they prioritized quality of work and mental health over everything else.
A Necessary Culture Change
People like Rebecca Lysen, Group Creative Director, Night After Night, Kasha Cacy, Global CEO, ENGINE, Goran Paunovic, Principal Creative Director, ArtVersion, Christofer Peterson, Senior VP of People and Culture, Dagger and Linda Chau, CEO, PAAPR Agency mentions that women in leadership roles are essential as it helps to create a workspace that is based on empathy and equal opportunity.
There has to be a change in our culture where we equip ourselves to accept families where both the parents are working and also to understand women having career breaks rather than punishing them. They also vouch for flexible time off work, equity in work and acknowledging the parenting duties as an important element in making the workspace a healthy and positive space.