The Truth About Women and the Recession

By Ashley Nelson, AlterNet
Posted on July 29, 2003, Printed on December 15, 2009
http://www.alternet.org/story/16507/

The current economic downturn is hitting women about as hard as men, though like many pressing social issues today you wouldn't know it by looking at mainstream culture.

Instead we read about women like Molly. Her husband, Tom Pyles, was one of three laid-off male executives profiled in a recent article, "Commute to Nowhere," in The New York Times Magazine. Once fat and happy as a self-identified "spoiled banker's wife," the recession came as a complete shock to Molly. She didn't sleep for weeks after finding out how much her husband lost in the stock market. "[She'd] never had any reason to examine the portfolio in the past," the author explains. Now Molly, who is Chinese, but emigrated from London, is contemplating working. "I never thought I'd have to work in America," she laments.

Jennie Wetterman was also living the American dream only a few years ago when her husband was making big bucks during the Internet boom. "The summer of 2001, I was at the pool everyday," she recently told Newsweek in an article covering, in large part, "the quiet, often painful transformation that takes place when Dad comes home with a severance package." "I went scuba diving, sky diving -- I must have read 30 books that summer." When her husband was laid off, she was forced to take a job at Old Navy. "I don't want to be in this situation two years down the road," she says flatly. "I'll have to put my foot down."

From these portraits, it is easy to forget that 60 percent of women work outside the home; or that nationwide they have been neck and neck with men in the unemployment lines. Currently, unemployment is at 6.1 percent for men and 5.2 percent for women, and for much of this year that gap has been even smaller. In February and March, only .3 percentage points separated men from women. Nevertheless, it is difficult to find a voice today that even acknowledges how the tough economy has directly affected women. Instead these days -- when people like Dick Cheney are deemed worthiest of tax cuts -- it seems all the sympathy we can muster is for white, formerly well-paid men.

The Newsweek piece, for instance, falsely states that women are weathering the recession better than their male counterparts -- "especially white-collar men who've been victimized by corporate downsizings." The Times article too downplays the effect the recession has had on women. While it acknowledges that women are being hit almost as hard as men, it focuses exclusively on the latter, flippantly dismissing women by saying that joblessness for men "entails surrendering an idea of who they are." Women in similar situations? Well, they "simply adapt and find some job." Just this month, People magazine perpetuated this same myth by profiling the struggles of two white, laid-off men.

Some analysts researching women and employment take issue with these portraits. "The idea that women don't mind being unemployed is a gross overgeneralization," counters Joan Williams, professor of law and director of the Program on Gender, Work and Family at the American University Law School. "While middle-class masculine identity is very closely entwined with having a job," she adds, "it is the purest of sexism to say that being unemployed is fine for women." In fact, "women have very different relationships to employment. Some can take it or leave it, but for others their sense of identity is just as intertwined with employment as men's...Being laid off can crush them."

But from profiles like those in The New York Times Magazine and Newsweek one would think the only effect the recession has had on women is that it has drastically affected their vacation schedules. "I love traveling, and I don't do that anymore," complains Molly. Don't even mention clothes shopping.

In reality, compared to previous downturns, this recession has been much harder on women. According to a study done by economists Heather Boushey and Robert Cherry, while the ration of white men who have been unemployed for six months or longer has remained steady compared to the last recession (18.5 percent in 1992 vs. 18.6 percent in 2003), for women long-term unemployment has increased by 3 percent -- from 15.2 percent in 1992 to 18.2 percent in 2003. "That's a huge increase," says Boushey, who works at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington.

Likewise, white women have seen their employment rates fall far more than they did during the early 1990s. Between 1990-1992, they saw their employment rates fall by only .2 percent. During this current downturn, from 2000 to 2003, that rate has increased seven times to 1.4 percent. The rate for white men is about the same now as it was during the previous downturn.

African-Americans have been hit even harder. The current unemployment rate is 11.3 percent and 9.7 percent for black men and women respectively. For white men, it is 5.4 percent. And according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), low-income single mothers have seen their jobless rate rise faster than the overall rate between 2000 and 2002, averaging 12.3 percent last year. Needless to say, the articles cited focus overwhelmingly on white families.

Of course, that women are being hit as hard as men by this recession is due in part to their increased financial attachment to the workplace. In this sense, they have merely "caught up" with men, who have traditionally fared much worse in recessions. Considering this, one might assume they would garner at least as much sympathy as men, if not necessarily more. But this has not been the case.

Not only are women's economic struggles ignored, in many cases they are cast as bitter wives determined to make life difficult for their already demoralized husbands. Molly's husband, Tom, spends his nights at "networking" meetings (10 sessions for $600) with the fellows. "At least you get emotional support. You can't get that at home...[There] you get attitude, 'Why don't you have a job yet?'"

Jeff Einstein, another laid-off male exec profiled in The New York Times Magazine, couldn't agree more. A few weeks after being fired, his wife, Mara, told him "to be a man...to do what I had to do to support my family." In her defense, all Mara can say is, "A lot of people were telling me that if their husband wasn't working for this long they'd throw him out of the house."

Ignoring the difficulties unemployed women are facing, these profiles emit a nostalgia for the days when men were men, and women were wives. Laurie and Jonathan Earp may be smiling in their Newsweek photo-op, but don't be fooled. "By marrying a lawyer, I thought he'd be able to bring in the money," says Laurie, who "reluctantly [became] the breadwinner" after her husband was laid off. "This is not the life I wanted." In a similar situation, Sean Zebrowskis still has some hope. "I'm still looking for a job. When I get it, Sherie can go back to sleeping in."

While the article purports to reveal a new breed of stay-at-home dad, it focuses overwhelmingly on the difficulties such role reversals can cause, particularly if a father is forced into the position by a layoff. A full page is given to Laura Doyle, author of "The Surrendered Wife," to spout off about how such swapping is simply unnatural -- even if it is brought on by a layoff. "Wives who are happy to be the sole earners are as rare as supermodels...Women want their husbands to cherish, adore and protect them, just as they did during courtship."

At a time when gruff masculinity is in -- when enemies are smoked out of their holes and the President models Top Gun gear -- the idea that men should be at the controls, in politics and at home, is as prevalent as ever. Since 9/11, two key female figures in the Bush administration, Karen Hughes and Mary Matalin, have stepped down citing family concerns. For the past few months, Condi Rice seems to be vacationing in an undisclosed location. And, as Time magazine recently reported, even the Eminem-stomping Lynne Cheney has agreed to back off, dropping a controversial new book project on academia to write a children's book entitled "America: A Primer." It's a relief "not to have to have an opinion about everything," she told the magazine.

Popular culture too has been in step with this neo-traditional trend. I guess a reality show just isn't a reality show if it does not rely on the assumption that in relationships women really just want the money. Erin ditched Rob for the $1 million on "For Love or Money." Jill on "Married By America" just couldn't overlook the fact that Kevin had no job prospects. And "Mr. Personality" saw fit to hide not only the male contestant's faces, but their occupations as well, all so single gal Hayley could make an honest decision.

Given that these cultural markers are so out of step with working women's realities, it is no surprise that public policy is as well. While men and women both face an uncertain economic future, women do have fewer safety nets to count on. In a study released in March 2003, the National Employment Law Project and the Program on Gender, Work and Family reported that men are more likely than women to receive unemployment insurance benefits in 41 states. Forty-three states, for instance, do not pay unemployment benefits to part-time workers, the majority of whom are women. "They can be ineligible for unemployment benefits unless they are willing to switch to full-time, which a lot of them can't because they just don't have the child care," Williams said. Federal welfare reforms, which limit lifetime benefits to five years, also put an added burden on low-income women.

Women's increased attachment to the workplace is not the only reason they are being hit harder by this recession. Traditionally female fields -- like the service industries and retail -- were flattened by 9/11. Since then, services have barely grown at all. And vacancies in retail trade, reports EPI, fell by over 20 percent last year. Since taking office, the Bush administration has seen to it that nearly every aspect of women's lives is rolled back. With Title IX under attack, young girls may never know what it feels like to be a Mia Hamm. In one out of three high schools, teenagers are refused information on birth control and abortion. And Jessica Lynch, comatose on a stretcher, has become the poster girl for women in the military.

Now, with the male breadwinner model back, seemingly by popular demand, and the Bush administration doing little to set the record straight, women may see the economic gains they made during the last decade reversed too. When that happens, conservative politicians and media outlets will continue to have a field day, but you can bet that the majority of women -- who either enjoy work or simply need the money -- won't be merely lounging around by the poolside avoiding portfolios.

Ashley Nelson has written for the Nation, Salon and Dissent.

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