Why are women shouldering the majority of career stress from Covid-19?

Why are women shouldering the majority of career stress from Covid-19?

73% of women reported feeling career stress in November 2020, compared with 57% of men in LinkedIn’s Workforce Confidence Index.

The survey of 1,697 UK professionals points to how women have been experiencing a particular sense of career vulnerability as a consequence of the pandemic. During 2020 45 per cent of female professionals spent more time than in 2019 searching for their next job or project (compared with 33% of men). 37% of women spent more time working during non-work hours than last year (29% of men).

Women also took less time off. 55% said they had used less holiday, as opposed to 46% of men.

Unequal insecurity

LinkedIn figures also suggest an ongoing issue of lower hiring rates among women. Working mothers and  women over 30 have been the worst affected by pandemic-related redundancies and job shortages.

“Our latest data shows women are spending more time than men working out of hours or searching for new roles – often while juggling work with increased family responsibilities,” said Emily Spaven, UK Editor at LinkedIn. “If we’re going to create a fair recovery, we have to recognise the impact the pandemic is having on individuals and offering greater flexibility to women and working parents who are balancing ever-more demanding workloads.”

Work/life imbalance

EAPA UK chair Eugene Farrell said: “For all the social change of the past 30 years, the position of women in work continues to be riddled with age-old inequalities. The crisis has only served to expose those fault lines between the different attitudes to and experiences of men and women.

“In other words, women are still expected to take on expanded roles as mothers, carers and housekeepers in ways that men mostly aren’t – meaning all kinds of stresses on time and attention that have to be juggled with work commitments. So there are still perceptions among employers that women are less straightforward to employ, to promote, to be given additional responsibilities.

“While HR can’t reverse an entire culture overnight, they can make sure the particular challenges of female staff are widely understood and appreciated. On this basis, employers should be more flexible, make sure health and wellbeing is a priority, and ensure the right kinds of support are available to mitigate against the stress imbalance ”