Vogue, March 4, 2021, The Year of ‘Invisible Crisis’: Three Women on Losing—Or Leaving—Their Jobs During the Pandemic
The statistics reflecting this struggle are staggering and, by now, oft repeated: 2.5 million women have left the workforce since the start of the pandemic, according to the Labor Department, and the declines have hit Black, Latina, and Asian women hardest. But left is a loaded word: Some were laid off in an economic crash and burn that could end up being worse than the Great Depression. Others felt forced to leave work by a tumbling house of cards: With schools and childcare centers abruptly closed and lockdown rendering home health aides a COVID risk, women have assumed the responsibilities of caring for their children and aging parents, adding the unpaid labor of homeschool teacher, nurse, aide, and administrative assistant until their past jobs and careers became untenable.
